Presented in partnership with American Jewish University

American Conservatives Encounter an Islamist Charm Campaign with 

Jim Hanson and David Reaboi

Monday, October 14, 2024
2:00PM Eastern Time

After years of almost purely aligning with the Left, Islamist organizations in the United States have started to build links to the Right by emphasizing commonalities such as anti-wokeness. Media play a key role in the conservative response. While often critical of Islamism, they also balance this negativity with a positive look toward a potential ally. How successful are the Islamist efforts? How competent are conservative media at understanding the issues? What do they get right and wrong? 

Jim Hanson is Chief Editor for the Middle East Forum. He previously served in the U.S. Army Special Forces and conducted counterterrorism, counterinsurgency and foreign internal defense operations in more than two dozen countries. He is the author of several books including Winning the Second Civil War - Without Firing a Shot and Cut Down the Black Flag - A Plan to Defeat ISIS.

David Reaboi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy, and the author of Qatar’s Shadow War: The Islamist Emirate and Its Information Operations in the United States. He is the president of Strategic Improvisation and has published in American Greatness, The Federalist, Claremont Review of Books, The Washington Times, and elsewhere. He holds a B.A. from George Washington University.

The Middle East Forum, an activist think tank, deals with the Middle East, Islamism, U.S. foreign policy, and related topics, urging bold measures to protect Americans and their allies. Pursuing its goals via intellectual and operational means, the Forum recurrently has policy ideas adopted by the U.S. government.