Government bill would oblige NGOs to declare foreign funding

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked was set to publish Sunday a memorandum on a cabinet-sponsored bill that would obligate groups that receive funding from foreign countries to note that fact on all official publications or letters to civil servants.

Representatives of such non-governmental organizations will also be required to wear a tag whenever they attend sessions in the Knesset, declaring the involvement of foreign countries in funding their groups.

The bill would have NGO representatives wear a tag similar to those worn by lobbyists — or face a fine of some NIS 29,000 ($7,500).

Almost all of the groups that would be affected by the bill are identified with the political left.

“The blatant interference of foreign governments in internal matters of the State of Israel with money is an unprecedented, widespread phenomenon that violates of all rules and norms in relations between democratic countries. Financial support by foreign countries to NGOs acting in the internal Israeli sphere destabilizes the sovereignty of the State of Israel and calls into question the authority of the government that was elected by the public,” Shaked said.

As an example, she said that Israelis “all saw how the report by the UN’s commission of inquiry on war crimes during Operation Protective Edge,” which is what Israel calls its war last summer with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, “was based on testimony by Israeli non-governmental organizations like B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence and Adalah.”

B’Tselem and Adalah are two NGOs dedicated to safeguarding Palestinians’ human rights; Breaking the Silence is an organization that collects testimony from IDF soldiers.

Before it was adopted by the cabinet, the bill was sponsored as private legislation by Shaked’s colleague in the Jewish Home party, MK Bezalel Smotrich. The bill is expected to encounter fewer hurdles now that the cabinet has given it its sponsorship.

NGOs likely to be affected by the bill were quick to criticize it.

Shaked “is breaking records for cynicism when she uses the word ‘transparency’ in order to hide her true goal: to badmouth and besmirch organizations criticizing the occupation and opposing the government’s policy,” B’Tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said in a statement.

“Today, [even] without such bills, B’Tselem publishes its list of donors with great pride and will continue to act fearlessly in exposing the reality of life in the territories,” she said.

“If the justice minister and prime minister are so afraid of foreign interference in Israeli politics, they should first give back the millions they received for their campaigns from foreign tycoons, which were in fact the large majority of contributions received by the heads of the Likud and Jewish Home parties,” Michaeli added.

She was apparently referring to international casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who supports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with other rich foreigners.

Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said the bill was meant “to mark political groups that voice other opinions and criticize the government’s policies. Surely the justice minister knows that registered NGOs, including Adalah, lawfully submit financial reports to the government on a regular basis and this data can even be found on the NGO’s website.”

Adalah said that funding from foreign sources for human rights groups is “acceptable and even necessary in regimes where a serious problem of human rights violations exists.”