PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi: MEMRI Is the Most Toxic Organization

Speaking at an event organized by the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian legislator and a member of the PLO Executive Committee, labeled MEMRI "the most toxic organization." Ashrawi accused MEMRI, with its "tremendous funds" and "access to Congress" and "decision-makers," of distorting the Palestinian message. The lecture, titled “Palestinian Perspective on the Peace Process,” was posted on the YouTube channel of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs on March 27.

Hanan Ashrawi: "Then there are toxic organizations, as you know, and they have been very effective in distorting the Palestinian message and reality - like MEMRI. You know? M-E-M-R-I? You should be aware of this. This is the most toxic organization. It is run by Yigal Carmon, who used to be the advisor to the military governor. Then he became an advisor to (Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak) Shamir on terrorism, and so on. He used to interrogate me once in a while. But now he has this organization with tremendous funds. He monitors everything, and then he has access to Congress, particularly, but (also) to many decision-makers, and he distorts Palestinian utterances and anything that is published. We can talk about this later."