anti-NGO legislation

Thousands attend a protest in Wadi Ara, northern Israel, following recent housing demolitions and the death of Yacoub Abu al-Qi'an earlier this week. January 21, 2017. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)

Arab citizens, not Israeli leftists, pay the real price for speaking out

The Israeli government may be cracking down on human rights NGOs and left-wing activists, but Palestinians citizens of Israel are the ones suffering from concrete persecution — with sometimes fatal results. The recently-passed law prohibiting the entry of boycott supporters into Israel is just the latest in a string of legislation and administrative measures aimed at curtailing…

By Roi Maor March 12, 2017

Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked of Jewish Home at the party headquarters on election day 2013

Right-wing parties revive attack on left-wing NGOs

The absurd contradiction between advancing bills with paranoid, dictator-style accusations of ‘foreign meddling,’ while throwing temper tantrums over the loss of that meddling for the sake of strengthening the occupation is deeply disheartening. Knesset members from two right-wing parties in Knesset have revived a bill to limit foreign government funding of left-wing Israeli NGOs. The…

By Dahlia Scheindlin July 17, 2013

Inconvenient truths. Netanyahu speaking to the Jewish Agency. (Photo: Jewish Agency for Israel, cc by-nd 2.0)

How the Netanyahu gov’t undermines Israeli democracy

Several actions by the current government are intended to deny the opposition its essential freedom of action One of the basic principles of a democratic regime is that it allows all citizens to participate in it equally. The basic assumption is that the faction currently in power will be removed someday, and that the opponents…

By Yossi Gurvitz February 11, 2012

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Human Rights March, December 9, 2011

Human rights march in Tel Aviv to counter anti-NGO legislation

The true essence of the foreign funding bill is its subjugation of all Israeli civil society organizations to the government’s whims. On Friday, December 9, 2011, Israeli civil society fights back at the human rights march By Ehud Uziel The revised Akunis-Kirschenbaum foreign funding bill backed by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Lieberman is…

By Haokets December 1, 2011

Be democratic, just not *too* democratic, OK? Protesters during the Human Rights March, December 2010. (Photo: Yossi Gurvitz)

Netanyahu’s assault goat and Israel’s human rights NGOs

Netanyahu freezes the anti-NGO bills – and keeps them as a weapon to be used at any time The mythical, conflict-erasing goat has a place of honor in the annals of Israeli administration. It is based on an ancient morality tale, fabricated a few decades ago, in which a Jew goes to his rabbi and…

By Yossi Gurvitz November 20, 2011

Senior generals were often politicans in uniform. Lt. Gen. Ganz with incoming and outgoing IDF Spokesmen. (Photo: Israel Defense Forces, CC-BY SA 2.0)

IDF Spokesman hoisted by own petard?

IDF Spokesman, Major Peter Lerner, expresses a political opinion. Problem: That’s forbidden to soldiers Everyone who has had the misfortune to serve in the IDF – most Israeli Jews are forced to – has heard, time and time again, the slogan that “soldiers are not allowed to deal with politics.” Naturally enough, this was never true…

By Yossi Gurvitz November 15, 2011