Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP)

Overview:

Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) is a Washington-based, Middle-East focused think tank funded by AIPAC. It operates as AIPAC’s de-facto research arm and enjoys funding from sources who also share funding with AIPAC¹.

WINEP’s founder was Barbie Weinberg, whose husband Larry Weinberg was then president of AIPAC. Martin Indyk, WINEP’s first executive director, was a former deputy director of research for AIPAC.

‘Core’ of the Zionist Lobby in US

WINEP has been described by certain American international relations experts as “part of the core” of the Israeli lobby in the US. According to Mearsheimer and Walt, “although WINEP plays down its links to Israel and claims that it provides a ‘balanced and realistic’ perspective on Middle East issues, this is not the case. In fact, WINEP is funded and run by individuals who are deeply committed to advancing Israel’s agenda … Many of its personnel are genuine scholars or experienced former officials, but they are hardly neutral observers on most Middle East issues and there is little diversity of views within WINEP’s ranks.”²

Some Arab analysts have claimed that WINEP is “the fiercest of the enemies of the Arabs and the Muslims” and the “most important Zionist propaganda tool in the United States.”³

Pro-Israel Influence Ops in the Middle East

Throughout recent years, WINEP has been very active regarding the promotion of the so-called normalization process between Israel and Arab regimes and has sought to fund and host a number of these initiatives. The Centre for Peace Communications and Arab Council of Regional Integration, under the oversight of Joseph Braude, are among these organizations which hold various events spreading pro-Zionist propaganda in countries such as Lebanon and Iraq under the cover of slogan such as “promoting peace” & “fighting hate”.⁴

1: Thomas G. Mitchell (8 May 2013). Israel/Palestine and the Politics of a Two-State Solution. McFarland. pp. 164–. ISBN 978-0-7864-7597-1

2: John J Mearsheimer; Stephen M Walt (26 June 2008). The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy. Penguin Books Limited. pp. 175–176. ISBN 978-0-14-192066-5.

3: https://web.archive.org/web/20151004142926/http://www.aljazeera.net/programs/fromwashington/2005/1/10/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%82%d8%b9-%d9%85%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ae%d9%8a%d8%a7%d9%84-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d9%85%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%83%d9%88%d9%86%d8%ba%d8%b1%d8%b3-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a3%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%83%d9%8a

4: https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/burgeoning-arab-israeli-normalization-not-quite-what-you-think/