In a close 57-48 vote, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, today passed a controversial bill regulating non-government organizations that receive foreign government funding, a bill which will apply overwhelmingly to human rights groups.
That’s the whole point of the bill, which Israel’s far-right government has argued will strike a blow against “foreign interference” in Israeli affairs. Prime Minister Benjmain Netanyahu termed it a “democratic” bill, accusing the European Union of trying to advance their support for a two-state solution by bankrolling NGOs in Israel.
US and European officials expressed major concerns, saying it was a “one-sided” bill that was designed to target groups which are critical of the current far-right government’s policies. German officials likened it to Russian efforts to clamp down on foreign NGOs.
Though Russia’s efforts received a lot more criticism, they did a lot less in practice, as Russia’s clampdown almost exclusively targeted NGOs that were directly involved in elections. The Israeli bill, by contrast, is mostly going after groups with no real political representation but who are publicly critical of government actions.
Reflecting the discomfort a lot of Israelis are feeling with this new law, Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog said the new law was “indicative, more than anything, of the budding fascism creeping into Israeli society.”
Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren, a current MP, praised the bill, saying it might hurt Israel diplomatically, but that “I have no doubt that left-wing non-profits such as Breaking the Silence are working to undermine the legitimacy of the State of Israel.”
Such groups have been increasingly demonized by the ruling coalition for publishing reports which publicize major Israeli crimes under international law. Breaking the Silence, in particular, documented war crimes during the most recent Gaza War, and has faced repeated condemnation.
We should do the same to AIPAC.
I WOULD ADVISE, ALL ISRAELI SOLDIERS, IDF , ETC. TO ABANDON THEIR SERVICE TO ISRAEL, AND AT THE VERY LEAST TO KEEP WEARING THOSE MASK.
IF AND WHEN WE CAN IDENTIFY YOU, IT’S PROSECUTE AND EXECUTE. WAR CRIMES WILL BE FOREVER PROSECUTED. EVEN YOUR TOP LEADERS RECOGNIZE THE TRUTH AND REALITY UNDER NETANYAHU. Listen up, it’s time to realize the waters around you have risen. Your best and brightest leaders are leaving Netanyahu’s extremist rightwing party. At the very least, it should make Netanyahu less confident of his standing among world leaders. And my own observation,INCH BY INCH, IF NECESSARY, a bit more credible. Stephen Hawking says,
“anyone can answer big questions.”
Stephen Hawking has joined BDS and will not speak in Israel.
Stop a madman, who will keep replacing those who have a conscience, with those hardliners who have war crimes, as a mindset, like himself.
History has taught us that criminalizing civil society and outlawing
ideas, especially those that are guided by moral principles, is never
a good idea. Netanyahu is legislating laws against his own people who oppose his Likud party war crimes.
Israel Passes New NGO Bill to Clamp Down on Human Rights Groups
What’s wrong with standing up for human rights?
We’ve known all along that while Israel in the hands of the right winged Zionist she is one of the worlds most brutal oppressor of human rights.
Only a complete and utter psychopath would openly state their opposition to human rights groups.
Let’s pursue Israeli war criminals exactly as they went after the nazis. Let us pursue them to the ends of the earth, without any statute of limitation, and pursue them even into their 90s. Let’s have the press stigmatize and vilify the words, Zionist, settler, Shin Bet, as we do now with Nazi, brown shirts, and Gestapo. Let us have daily television programs, movies, and media articles on Israeli atrocities for the next seventy five years along with seventy five years of media exultation of Palestinian victimhood!
argonne18, -Your attitude is good, but do you know where we are? —America is right in the middle of Israeli owned/occupied territory. No-one of importance (least of all our two latest candidates for Buttlicker-in-Chief) would dare utter a word comparing Netanyahu to Hitler. We need to get their storm-trooper boots off our necks first, and then maybe we will regain some resemblance to moral people with courage.
and yet Israel, the societal parasite of humanity that takes money from every country it can guilt into giving it money, uses Americans own money to lobby the US congress to the benefit of ISRAHELL!
They have no human rights in a land stolen from an ancient honorable people. The destruction of Palistine and it’s neighbors was always unnecessay.