The Bill, proposed by justice minister Ayelet Shaked from the right-wing Jewish Home, applies to all NGOs that receive more than 50 per cent of their funding from the European Union or foreign states.
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The bill is the latest measure by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that political opponents say are aimed at stifling dissent toward its peace and security policies.
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If the initiative is successful, Israeli non-governmental organisations which get at least half of their funding from “foreign state entities” will be obliged to identify donors on their financial statements and in official statements to Israeli public bodies.
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As now drafted, the bill proposed by Shaked would require representatives of organizations receiving over half their support from foreign governments to wear tags with the name and the group they represent when they attend Knesset sessions, as is now required of Knesset lobbyists. The bill’s goal is to increase transparency among organizations that claim to advocate for human rights and work for justice in Israel but actually pursue an agenda laid out by foreign governments.
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog said the ministers’ decision was a “bullet between the eyes of Israel’s image in the world”.
Following the vote in the committee, Shaked asked why it was legitimate for the European Union to label products from settlements and not for Israel to label the products of their funding.
The right-wing political group Im Tirtzu recently made headlines for a video it released stigmatizing leaders of left-wing organizations that it said received substantial foreign government funding as foreign “moles”. This sense of isolation is fueling what some say is a siege mentality that perceives opposition activists as the enemy. The ambassador was reported as saying the bill is better suited for despotic regimes since it aims to discriminate against government critics.
“The European Union ambassador spoke out today against the bill and said that in his opinion the law is a blow to democracy, and asked Israel to ‘refrain from action which damage freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, ‘” she said.
Peace Now in a statement following the vote called the bill a “hate crime against democracy” and called on Shaked to “promote legislation requiring right-wing organizations to expose the millions they receive from private donors overseas and from the state budget”.
However, private funds from overseas, such as money donated to Israeli groups that support illegal settlements in the occupied lands, are not addressed in the bill. Previous Netanyahu governments were forced to scuttle bills created to limit foreign funding for rights groups after the attorney-general deemed them unconstitutional.
‘Biased’ testimonies She said the United Nations report on the Gaza war of 2014, condemned by the Israeli government as biased, was based largely on testimonies by human rights groups such as B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence and Adalah.
“In the past few weeks we have been witnesses to a campaign of incitement that was meant to advance the NGO bill of Ayelet Shaked”, the New Israel Fund said in response to the approval of the bill.
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“Instead of dealing with the violence of the radical right, they are putting up a smoke screen by picking on human rights groups in Israel”, said Avihai Stollar, a spokesman for Breaking the Silence.
