PHILADELPHIA – The Middle East Forum is pleased to announce the launch of the website for its Legal Project, located at www.legal-project.org. The site is a source of information on “Islamist lawfare” – that is, attempts by supporters of radical Islam to suppress free discourse on Islam and terrorism by (1) exploiting Western legal systems and traditions and (2) recruiting state actors and international organizations such as the United Nations.
The Legal Project involves a variety of activities, including preparing articles, memoranda, and briefs; compiling documents that relate to Islamist lawfare; articles written by and about the Legal Project; a constantly updated list of lawfare cases; and a blog section that provides analysis of lawfare-related issues and transnational attempts to suppress criticism of Islam.
The Legal Project website also functions as a resource center tracking and documenting attempts to silence criticism of radical Islam by actors such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference and its member states, in the form of United Nations resolutions outlawing “defamation of religion” and by calling for the extradition of individuals like Geert Wilders to stand trial in Jordan for comments made in Europe.
Daniel Pipes founded the Legal Project at the Middle East Forum in June 2007 in response to the rise of Islamist lawfare, specifically a lawsuit brought by the Islamic Society of Boston against 17 defendants, including counterterrorism specialist Steven Emerson. Since that time, the Legal Project has been active in identifying, analyzing and counteracting Islamist lawfare in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
According to Kathy Shaidle of Right Side News, “Along with brave politicians like Rep. Peter King, The Legal Project is leading the counterattack against Muslim lawfare.” Writing in l’Occidentale, Italian author and professor Valentina Colombo notes, “Il Legal Project americano meriterebbe di essere imitato in ogni dove” [“The American Legal Project is worthy of being imitated everywhere”].
Brooke Goldstein, a practicing attorney, is director of the MEF’s Legal Project. She received her B.A. from McGill and her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Goldstein is the founder and director of the Children’s Rights Institute, an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute, and the 2007 Recipient of the E. Nathaniel Gates Award for Outstanding Public Advocacy. Her recent film, “The Making of a Martyr,” won the 2006 Audience Choice Award from the United Nations Film Festival. She has written for the American Spectator, the New York Daily News, Family Security Matters and has appeared on FOX News and CNN. Contact: Goldstein@MEForum.org
Aaron Eitan Meyer is assistant director of the Legal Project. He received his B.A. from New School University, and his J.D. from Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center. He is also Legal Correspondent for the Terror Finance Blog. Contact: Meyer@MEForum.org
For more information about the Legal Project, including how to participate, please feel free to visit http://www.legal-project.org/participation.php. In addition, you may wish to subscribe to all Middle East Forum (non-overlapping) mailing lists at http://www.legal-project.org/list_subscribe.php.
For immediate release
For more information, contact Brooke Goldstein at Goldstein@MEForum.org
