The Transatlantic Institute is a think tank

Think tank

A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

 affiliated with the American Jewish Committee

American Jewish Committee

The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...

. Founded in February 2004 in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, Antwerp, the institute is non-partisan think tank dedicated to addressing the issue of how the United States and Europe can effectively collaborate. Its executive director is Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi

Emanuele Ottolenghi

Emanuele Ottolenghi, a political scientist, is a Senior Fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington. Previously, he ran the Brussels' based Transatlantic Institute. He has taught at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, as well as the Middle East Centre of St....

.

In 2005, the institute urged the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 to adopt stricter regulations that would not allow broadcasts from the Middle East that were in violation of European hate speech

Hate speech

Hate speech is, outside the law, any communication that disparages a person or a group on the basis of some characteristic such as race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or other characteristic....

 laws. The group called for prohibiting broadcasters from carrying Al-Manar

Al-Manar

Al-Manar is a Lebanese satellite television station affiliated with Hezbollah, registered as Lebanese Media Group Company, broadcasting from Beirut, Lebanon. It has an offering a "rich menu" of high production news, commentary, and entertainment. The self-proclaimed "Station of the Resistance" ,...

, the TV station of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, and broadcasts of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls to "wipe Israel off the map."