Opponents of the law argued that the Netanyahu government was trying to target liberal human rights organizations that are critical of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.
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“Imagine if Israel had funded British organisations and encouraged them to back the exit from the European Union”, said Ayelet Shaked. Right-wing NGOs, such as those supporting Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, tend to rely on private donations, to which the law does not apply.
Netanyahu, in defending the bill as “democratic and necessary”, has seemed to allude to foreign monetary support for Israeli groups backing Palestinian statehood.
Some of those “prominent” human rights groups strongly oppose Israel Defense Force antiterror operations and have accused Israel of alleged war crimes.
The NGO Law is meant to harm organizations that promote democracy and worldviews that differ from the views of the majority in the current coalition.
The long-standing anti-occupation group Peace Now vowed to appeal against the law to the high court of justice, denouncing it as a “a blatant violation of freedom of expression”. ACRI hopes that this law deters neither organizations nor their activists from continuing to fight for Israeli democracy, which is so important to us all. According to a Jeruslalem Post report, 70 percent of these NGOs work to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and receive funds from the European Union member states.
The EU has criticised a controversial new Israeli law targeting non-governmental organisations that receive most of their funding from overseas.
“Contrary to claims on the left, the bill’s approval will increase transparency, will encourage the creation of a debate which truly reflects public opinion in Israel and will strengthen democracy”.
The organisations listed include groups such as B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, Yesh Din, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and the al-Marsad Arab Human Rights Centre.
Yariv Oppenheimer, former head of Peace Now, told Arutz Sheva that there isn’t any information about foreign-funded NGOs not already available to the public which would become available under the new law.
Such organizations will also have to state the fact on their websites, in all their public publications, in all their communications with officials, and whenever they appear before Knesset committees.
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A previous version of the legislation stipulated it would be mandatory for members of such organisations to wear tags during Knesset sessions detailing their NGO name and the foreign involvement in their activities – a clause which was later removed.
