Dear friend of EMET,
Excellence. That is what the Endowment for Middle East Truth demand of ourselves, and it is what we bring to the table every single day, either through our webinar series, our meetings with Capitol Hill members or staffers, and in our own writing and analyses. EMET, our 15-year-old unabashedly pro-American and pro-Israel think tank and policy institute, has striven, since its inception to “raise the quality of the debate” about Israel and the Middle East.
And that is what we have done.
Over the period of this pandemic alone, we have had more than 25 webinars featuring the world’s leading experts on each subject. Since transitioning to working remotely in March, EMET has hosted 25 webinars covering a diverse range of topics. These topics include tensions on Israel’s northern border, Erdogan’s ambitions in the Middle East, the recent spate of bombings in Iran, the Israeli elections, the effort to combat global anti-Semitism, the moral clarity of the IDF, Iran’s presence and patterns around the world, and much more.
If you have missed any of our webinars, or would like to share your favorite webinars with others, all of EMET’s past events are available for your viewing here.
We know that perceptions create policy, and therefore it is our goal to provide the public, including members of Congress, with the knowledge and education necessary to make well-informed decisions.
Our commitment to education does not end with our webinar series. Every day, the EMET team meets, via conference call or Zoom meetings, with staffers or members of Congress from Capitol Hill. Many of our recent meetings have focused on the tensions along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and Syria. We have spoken extensively with staffers from both sides of the aisle about the Iranian proxy, Hezbollah’s suffocating chokehold over the Lebanese government. We have informed them about UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which came about after the 2006 War with Hezbollah, which said that all foreign forces have got to withdraw from Lebanon, south of the Litani River, and how, although Israel immediately complies, Southern Lebanon now hosts an arsenal of over 150,000 Hezbollah missiles, staring down at Israel. Hezbollah has been in the process of converting these “dummy” missiles into PGM’s, Precision Guided Missiles, which can hit sensitive sites of the Israeli and commercial and military infrastructure.
As a result of the 2006 War with Hezbollah, the United States began giving the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) upwards of $220 million a year in order for it to act as leverage against Hezbollah. However, at the point of this writing, the LAF has developed a very cozy relationship with Hezbollah. They go on joint patrols together. We have seen photos of American made armored vehicles being driven by Hezbollah operatives in parades. Members of the LAF share uniforms with Hezbollah terrorists. Even on the LAF’s own website, there are pictures of LAF and Hezbollah members posing together, with flags flanking either side.
In the weeks, leading up to the National Defense Authorization Act, (NDAA) EMET has educated scores and scores of offices on Capitol Hill about the dangers of this relationship. Our efforts have led to several suggested amendments to the NDAA. Two members of Congress that EMET has a very close relationship with, Rep. Lee Zeldin (Republican, New York) and Rep. Elaine Luria, (Democrat, Virginia), introduced a bipartisan bill, Countering Hezbollah in Lebanon’s Military Act of 2019. The bill specifies that we limit the amount of security assistance we give to Lebanon, each year, until the LAF has taken measurable steps to limit or expel Hezbollah’s influence over the LAF and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
Since the massive explosion on the port in Beirut occurred, resulting in the death of over 150 people, the wounding of thousands and the more than 300,000 Lebanese left homeless, we have been speaking to members of Congress and their staffers about ways to send emergency aid directly to the people of Lebanon, and exploring ways to circumvent any chance that our American taxpayers’ dollars end up in the hands of Hezbollah.
And of course, we have never stopped placing blame directly at the doorstep of where it so obviously belongs: The Islamic Republic of Iran. Throughout this summer, when a spate of “mysterious” fires erupted throughout Iran, we explained why, whoever was responsible for this, felt it was necessary. In one of our EMET webinars this summer, the Founder and President of the Institute for Science and International Security, David Axelrod, said the Iranian regime was perhaps one to two months away from nuclear breakout before this spate of fires, and how this mysterious spate of fires has set them back one to two years.
As we write this, tensions are not only flaring up along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and Syria, but Hamas has escalated tensions along the border with Gaza, in the south. They have started, once again launching incendiary devices attached to balloon bouquets, and as Israeli engineers are trying to construct a security barrier between Hamas-controlled Gaza and Israel, Hamas sharp shooters are aiming at Israeli engineer.
Members of Congress and their staffers rely upon us to give them the unvarnished truth-the EMET, so much so that when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came to testify before Congress before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 30th, a senate staffer asked us to write questions for his member.
Things are very tense in Israel, as well as in the entire Middle East, this summer. We cannot be in Israel to fight alongside the IDF, but part of EMET’s mission is to be able to paint an accurate picture to our policymakers and the public-at-large, so that they have the facts to be able to make well informed decisions.
We do this all as a public service. All of this costs a great deal of money, however, If you have participated in any of our webinars or seminars, you know how we value and communicate excellence, and we ask you now, for your support. If you understand the value of painting an accurate and empathic picture of what Israel has to go through in order to survive in the Middle East, we again, are asking for your support.
EMET takes no money from any government, and we depend entirely on support from people, such as yourselves.
Please give as much as you can comfortably afford to give.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Sincerely,
Sarah N. Stern
Founder and President
EMET
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