The Israeli draft bill that would toughen rules on foreign-backed NGOs is aimed at stifling government criticism. If the bill is passed it will require Israeli NGOs which get at least half of their funds from foreign governments to identify donors on their financial statements and in official statements to public bodies. The problem is that this has nothing to do with transparency and everything to do with the delegitimation of organizations criticizing Israel's policies. Right-wing NGOs which tend to be funded by private individuals, often outside Israel, are not subject to the restrictions whereas left-wing Israeli NGOs which receive large percentages of their funding from abroad, including from European governments, are. Some groups are being unfairly singled out, but hardline groups, including Im Tirtzu and organizations that support Jewish settlers in the West Bank, are exempt. This is a disturbing milestone in right-wing efforts to delegitimize and silence these organizations. If this bill passes then the same thing should be done in the US. Organizations and lobby groups like AIPAC that benefit Israeli interests at the expense of American interests need to be identified and their members register as agents of a foreign government. AIPAC, often called the most important organization affecting America's relationship with Israel, is one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the US, an agent of the Israeli government with a stranglehold on US Congress with its power and influence. There was, however, something worse than AIPAC. Just over 50 years ago, President John F. Kennedy pressed on the American Zionist Council (AZC), the group formed in 1949 following the independence of Israel and which represented nine nationwide Zionist organizations in matters related specifically to Zionism, to register as a foreign entity since it was getting most of its multi-million dollar donations from foreign sources, mainly Zionists in Israel to support its infamous lobbying power. That registration could have single-handedly destroyed the Zionist movement in America as it would have forced it to declare its sources and pay huge amounts of back taxes. But a few months later JFK was assassinated and the AZC was dissolved and replaced by AIPAC. The chief sponsor of Israel's NGO bill is Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, a member of the far-right Jewish Home Party, who has repeatedly accused foreign-backed NGOs of being responsible for blatant interference in internal Israeli affairs. If Shaked, a right-wing Zionist who has called for the genocide of Palestinians, were sincere, she would promote legislation requiring right-wing organizations to expose the millions they receive from private donors abroad and from the state budget. However, under the bill, human rights groups documenting atrocities in the occupied West Bank will be put under a much larger microscope, even though Israel basically ignores hundreds of millions of donations from American citizens, which go straight to the settlements, which is a violation of international law. To be brutally honest, the whole of Israel is funded by a foreign country - $5 billion every year from the US. And that does not include private donations. One wonders if this bill will also prohibit Israelis from interfering in the politics of foreign countries. Benjamin Netanyahu's overt attempts to influence politics in the US are the first that come to mind. Israel claims to be a democracy, but continuously seeks to limit freedoms within its own borders and in the occupied territories. Shaked's bill represents a severe blow to the freedom of expression and activity of organizations. This is an attempt to limit funding for peace-seeking NGOs while ignoring those which support apartheid, settlements and racism.
