MK Robert Ilatov of Yisrael Beytenu expressed satisfaction at the passage late Monday of the NGO “transparency law”, which he authored together with Jewish Home MK Betzalel Smotrich and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, also of Jewish Home. “Organizations that present themselves as objective but are funded by foreign countries are unacceptable in a democratic country,” Ilatov…
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The Zionist Organization of America issued this statement:
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has praised the passage by the Knesset in Jerusalem of the Transparency Law, which requires Israeli Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) to disclose sources of funding from foreign governments.
Under the law, nonprofit organizations and public benefit companies that receive a majority of their funding from foreign government sources are obligated to report this in their financial statements, in official correspondence with government officials, both elected and bureaucratic, as well as on billboards and in television advertisements, newspapers, on the home page of their website or online campaigns. Violators could face a fine of up to 29,000 shekels. Israeli Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, said, “Today the Israeli Knesset said ‘no’ to gross interventions of foreign states in the internal affairs of the State of Israel” (Hezki Baruch, ‘Knesset approves “Transparency Law,”’ Israel National News, July 12, 2016).
In addition, a list of the NGOs falling under the bill’s purview, as well as the countries from which they received donations, would have to be posted on the Non-Profit Registrar’s website. NGOs already must report all contributions from foreign governments to the registrar.
The law came about due to a number of Israeli NGOs that lack substantial Israeli support but which function due to massive infusions of foreign government funds to promote anti-Israel agendas, including organizations that publicize false, unsourced allegations of Israeli military brutality towards Arabs; or urging unilateral or major Israeli concessions to an unreconstructed Palestinian Authority (PA) opposed by the democratically elected Israeli government and a majority of the Israeli population.
The law has been criticized by the European Union (EU), which provides large funding for numerous leftwing Israeli NGOs, and by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon. The EU said that “the reporting requirements imposed by the new law go beyond the legitimate need for transparency and seem aimed at constraining the activities of these civil society organizations working in Israel,” while Mr. Ban said that the law would contribute “to a climate in which the activities of human rights organizations are increasingly delegitimized.”
Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, said, “Today the Israeli Knesset said ‘no’ to gross interventions of foreign states in the internal affairs of the State of Israel.”
This was rejected by Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu, who responded, “The purpose of the law is to prevent the absurd situation in which foreign countries intervene in Israel’s internal affairs by funding organizations without the Israeli public even being aware of it. Unlike the Left’s claims, the law will increase transparency.”
The criticism has also been repudiated by Professor Eugene Kontorovich, an international law expert at Northwestern University and director of the international law department at the Kohelet Forum think tank in Jerusalem, who said, “Israeli NGO disclosure law [is] neutral, not aimed at [left-wing] organizations … EU funding [is] not neutral, aimed at only quite left organizations. Bias is EU’s, not law’s” (Lahav Harkov, ‘EU slams law increasing transparency for its donations to Israeli NGOs,’ Jerusalem Post, July 12, 2016).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “We applaud the Knesset for passing this law, which we have supported for some time.
“Contrary to the hyperbole and false assertions one hears, the new law does not prevent free and vigorous advocacy of whatever positions a NGO chooses to take up. It does not prohibit or impede foreign private funding. Nor does it prohibit or impede foreign government funding; it is solely a matter of public disclosure of foreign government sources.
“Thus, right-wing NGO, receiving more than 50% foreign government funding, would be equally obliged by the proposed law to disclose its foreign government sources.
“What has changed is that fringe Israeli groups are no longer allowed to inflate their influence and reach, courtesy of the largesse of foreign governments interfering in Israeli affairs, without disclosing the sources and extent of their foreign government funding.
“They don’t like this, because such disclosure inevitably shows them to have very little local support for their work.
“Far from harming free speech, honest opinion and civil society, this is democracy in action.
“A good example of the need for accountability comes from a newly released report by the U.S. Senate, which condemned Obama’s State Department for grants given to a left-wing Israeli NGO which developed a political infrastructure used in the 2015 Knesset election in an effort to defeat the Netanyahu government. Imagine if the Israeli government funded an Israeli NGO to work against Obama’s reelection. The world and media would have gone ballistic and rightly so.
“As for foreign criticism of this law, a domestic law regulating the obligations of financial disclosure by Israeli NGOs is not a matter that calls for comment from any foreign leader, country, or organization, whether it be the UN or the EU. But then EU members are the chief culprits in funding these NGOs that have very little support among Israelis, with a view to interfering and affecting the internal politics of Israel. The EU hardly comes to this matter with clean hands.
“We would hope that such organizations reserve public comment for regimes that murder and maim their own citizens by the thousands, or other genuine human rights abuses –– not a law-abiding country which democratically promulgates legislation to ensure public accountability for the use of foreign government funding.”
John Kirby, the press spokesman for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, was quizzed at his briefing on Tuesday about the new NGO law. Here is that portion of the transcript, as provided by the State Department:
QUESTION: Okay. And then on Israel, a couple things. One, the NGO law that you had expressed concerns about in the past has come into effect. Do you have a position now that it is operational?
MR KIRBY: We’re aware that the Knesset passed the NGO bill last night. Although some of the issues that we were concerned about were addressed in the final version, we are still very concerned about the potential impacts of this legislation – in particular, the chilling effect that this new law could have on NGO activities. As the President has made clear, a free and functional civil society is essential, and governments must protect freedoms of expression, including dissent and association, and create an atmosphere where all voices can be heard.
QUESTION: I think the EU said it risks undermining democracy. Do you share that opinion?
MR KIRBY: Well, I think I’d point you back to what the President said, that free expression and including dissent and association, a free and functioning civil society – those are all key elements to a healthy democracy.
QUESTION: And then coincidentally but separately, there was a Senate report that came out today on State Department aid to a group. I think it was called OneVoice. And it concluded that some U.S. money went to an effort that was opposing the Israeli prime minister. Do you have a comment on that?
MR KIRBY: As the report was just released, actually we’ve not had time to go through it closely, so I’m not going to be able to comment on specifics. But I would note that the report makes clear there’s no evidence that OneVoice spent State Department grant funds to influence the Israeli election. Again, I just don’t have additional comment at this time.
QUESTION: Iran? Iran?
QUESTION: John, could I follow up on Brad’s question —
MR KIRBY: Sure. I had a feeling you’d want to.
QUESTION: — on the NGO? Now, since basically those organizations that get their funding from abroad, there are only – or most of their funding – there are 27, 25 of which are human rights organizations that really document Israeli military occupation, abuses, and so on. And it is bound to have a very, very negative effect on the ability to report and record and document these human rights abuses. So I know you mentioned that – about free press and so on, but also the human rights situation. I wonder if you would have a comment on that.
MR KIRBY: Well, as I said, I mean, it’s not just about freedom of expression; it’s dissent and association. And when I said dissent and association, I was talking about some of these NGOs that promote civil society and human rights issues. And again – and I said this in the answer to Brad – I mean, we’re deeply concerned that this law now as passed can have a chilling effect on the activities that these worthwhile organizations are trying to do.
Americans for Peace Now issued the following comment:
Washington, DC — Americans for Peace Now (APN) joins its Israeli sister organization, Peace Now (Shalom Achshav) in strongly condemning the new NGO Law, adopted last night by the Knesset, as a blatant violation of freedom of expression. APN supports Peace Now’s intention to challenge the new law before Israel’s Supreme Court.
As Peace Now points out, this law is tailored specifically to target only peace and human rights organizations. It intends to divert the Israeli public discourse away from the occupation, and to silence opposition to the government’s policies.
Peace Now points out that while the law will de-legitimize progressive organizations, pro-settler NGOs who receive millions of dollars in foreign donations without any transparency will remain unaffected.
Unfortunately, this is only one of many pending laws leading to a severe deterioration in Israel’s democracy.
Peace Now last night vowed to continue to fight this ugly wave of anti-democratic measures in Israel’s court of public opinion, and to challenge the NGO Law’s validity before the Supreme Court.
Daniel Sokatch, leader of the New Israel Fund, issued this statement:
We witnessed a setback for Israeli democracy yesterday when the Knesset passed legislation intended to stigmatize progressive critics of the current government’s policies.
The bill did not pass easily. Strong criticism from some of Israel’s best friends around the world — including NIF supporters — pressured the government to drop some of the most outrageous provisions. And even then dozens of Knesset Members opposed to the bill spoke out on the floor of the Knesset for more than six hours, delaying the vote until after midnight Jerusalem time…
You and I know that, sadly, the current government will try to pass more laws to limit free speech and intimidate their critics. Next on the agenda is a bill to allow Knesset Members to be able to expel other Knesset Members — a move widely understood to be aimed at Arab Knesset Members.
Those of us who care about Israel and want it to live up to the values of equality and democracy have every reason to be concerned about what’s going on in the Knesset. I want you to know that NIF’s team in Jerusalem, and our allies, are constantly engaging with elected officials to minimize the damage done by these bills — and the watered down nature of the NGO Bill that passed this week is testament to their impact.
I also want us all to remember that Israel is a much richer and more dynamic place than the one represented by some of the headlines or in some of the Knesset debates. Whatever happens within the halls of that important building, there is an enormous constituency of Israelis that shares our commitment to equality and democracy and that wants to see an end to the occupation.
Many of these Israelis are constantly at work — organizing, educating, mobilizing — all for the purpose of building a better Israel. In the spirit of this work, I wanted to share with you this ad that ran in Israeli papers today.
Signed by 21 Israeli civil and human rights groups the ad reads: “Maybe we didn’t succeed in stopping the NGO bill. But the NGO bill won’t succeed in stopping us.”
It is this determination — that I see day-in and day-out amongst our Israeli colleagues and partners — that reminds me of the truth of Margaret Mead’s famous words: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
The partnership that is NIF — that fuses together those of us who care about Israel’s future with the smartest and most determined Israeli social change activists — is the path forward for a better Israel.