Raymond Ibrahim Appointed Associate Director of the Middle East Forum

I am very pleased to announce that I will be working at the Middle East Forum as Associate Director starting January 2009. I will also, of course, continue writing daily for Jihad Watch. Here is the press release from the MEF website, which was sent out yesterday, December 1, 2008:

Philadelphia – The Middle East Forum announces the appointment of Raymond Ibrahim as associate director.

Mr. Ibrahim will help to oversee the Forum's programs and projects and serve as associate publisher for the Middle East Quarterly. He will do original research and write about radical Islam and jihad, particularly from the doctrinal and historical viewpoints.

Mr. Ibrahim has worked for six years at the Library of Congress as a technician/reference assistant, working closely with Middle East language materials. He discovered there al-Qaeda tracts that he went on to translate and annotate for The Al Qaeda Reader (Doubleday, 2007). His book, he explains, shows that "radical Islam's war with the West is not finite and limited to political grievances … but is existential, transcending time and space and deeply rooted in faith."

Born in the United States to immigrant Coptic parents, Mr. Ibrahim was raised in a bilingual environment and is fluent in Arabic. He received his B.A. and M.A. (both in history) from California State University, Fresno, where he studied with Victor Davis Hanson; his M.A. thesis examined the early Islamic conquests. He has done graduate work at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies of Georgetown University, and is currently working on his doctorate in medieval Islamic history at Catholic University.

Mr. Ibrahim has authored many articles, essays, and translations on Middle-East-related topics in such publications as the Chronicle of Higher Education, Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst, Middle East Review of International Affairs, Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, New York Times Syndicate, National Review, and Weekly Standard. He writes daily for JihadWatch.com.

Mr. Ibrahim has been interviewed on many television and radio shows, including Fox News, C-SPAN, NPR, and PBS. He has lectured and debated at universities, and has briefed several governmental agencies, including the Department of State and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

"I look forward to contributing to the Forum's tradition of defining and promoting American interests in the Middle East, especially at this moment when the Middle East is undergoing socio-political upheavals and Washington is in transition," Mr. Ibrahim said on taking the position.

"We are delighted that a young scholar of such achievement and so much potential has joined the Middle East Forum in a key capacity," observed Daniel Pipes, the Middle East Forum's director.

Immediate release

For more information, contact Amy Shargel at
215-546-5406, ex. 22
Shargel@MEForum.org