Washington, DC, April 30, 2007 … For his journalistic endeavors that unearthed long-forgotten stories from the Holocaust in Arab lands and for his probing insights into contemporary issues in the Middle East, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today honored Dr. Robert Satloff with its prestigious ADL Daniel Pearl Award.  Established in 2003, the award is named in honor of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was abducted and murdered in Pakistan while pursuing a story about international terrorism.

"It is in the spirit and the ideals of Danny Pearl – the pursuit of truth, the defense of freedom, the drive to understand and explain the complexities of the world – that we present this award to Robert Satloff," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, in presenting the award to Dr. Satloff during the ADL Shana Amy Glass National Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C.  "I am sure that Danny would have been proud to call him a colleague."

Dr. Satloff's discoveries, which helped convince the German government to award compensation to Jewish survivors of labor camps in North Africa, are the subject of his new book, Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands (PublicAffairs, 2006).  Dr. Satloff, an expert on Arab and Islamic politics as well as U.S. Middle East policy, has been executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy since 1993.

In accepting the award, Dr. Satloff said he hoped his new book and his research will help to stem the resurgence of Holocaust denial in the Muslim world and engender new ways of thinking.  "I hope it plays its own modest contribution in winning the battle of ideas," he told an audience of nearly 500 ADL delegates from across the country.

"In these, early days of the 21st century, we are engaged in a great struggle, today's heir of the great ideological struggles of the 20th century, which pitted western liberal democracies against Nazism, fascism and communism.  Today, the foe is radical Islamist extremism," said Dr. Satloff. 

"This is not our battle alone. We are in this battle with tens of millions of men and women in Arab and Muslim countries who live on the front lines and have much more to lose than we do if the radical extremists gain power and influence in their societies.  These are people in virtually every city, town and village in Muslim countries – and even Arabs and Muslims in non-Muslim countries such as in Europe.  Parents who don't want their kids to study in Wahhabi madrasas, mothers who don't want their daughters denied life opportunities; fathers who don't want their sons to strap suicide belts around their waists, whether in Baghdad or Jerusalem or London."

Dr. Satloff has written and spoken widely on the Arab-Israeli peace process, the Islamist challenge to the growth of democracy in the region, and the need for bold and innovative public diplomacy to Arabs and Muslims.  The author or editor of nine books and monographs, Dr. Satloff's views on Middle East issues appear frequently in major newspapers and he regularly comments on major television network news programs, talk shows and National Public Radio.

The ADL Daniel Pearl Award is endowed by George and Ruth Moss and is given to recognize individuals who are working for a positive impact on the image of Jews and Judaism in the Muslim world. The award has previously been presented to The New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman (2003) and Jeffrey Goldberg, Washington Correspondent for The New Yorker (2005).

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.