APN's Lara Friedman op-ed: No comparison between Israeli NGO bill and US law (JTA, 1/11/2016)
APN's Ori Nir: New anti-NGO bill is part of broader battle between conservatives and progressives in Israel (Voice of America, 1/14/2016)
Peace Now's Anat Ben Nun op-ed: Israel's NGO Bill is an Attempt to Crush Critics of the Government (Newsweek, 1/10/2016)
Following Peace Now report, US condemns Israel expanding West Bank settlement bloc (Washington Post/AP, 1/8/2016)
On January 14, 2016, APN, together with New Israel Fund (NIF), J Street, Ameinu, T’ruah, Partners for Progressive Israel (PPI), Foundation for Middle-East Peace (FMEP), and B'Tselem USA, hosted MK Merav Michaeli, former Deputy Knesset Speaker Naomi Chazan, and Attorney Michael Sfard, moderated by Matt Duss, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace for a conversation on the legislation now being considered by the Knesset that targets progressive NGOs for extra scrutiny of their foreign donations, but does not require similar scrutiny of right-wing or settler groups.
This legislation is part of a long-term effort by some Israeli hardliners, backed by the government, to weaken Israel’s democracy by stifling dissent. While its supporters attempt to liken it to existing US law, it has drawn significant opposition from many quarters, both within Israel, from the US State Department and among the American Jewish community. And still, there is a real possibility that the bill will pass in the next few weeks.
On Thursday, January 14, APN's Lara Friedman joined Zeina Azzam, the
Executive Director of the Jerusalem Fund for a panel moderated by John Feffer, the Director for Epicenter
at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC for a panel discussing the performance Wrestling
Jerusalem. More information can be found here.
News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:
Last week the High Court rejected a petition submitted by landowners of the village of Nahla, located south of
Bethlehem, and approved the declaration of 1,341 of their lands as state land. This petition was the last legal
obstacle that stood in the way of the government's plan to establish a new settlement with thousands of housing
units east of the separation barrier in Givat Eitam. The plan, known as "E2," has disastrous consequences on the
two state solution as it blocs Bethlehem from the south and cuts the southern part of the West Bank in half, quite
similarly to the plan known as E1.
The Knesset is now considering legislation that targets progressive NGOs for extra scrutiny of their foreign donations, but does not require similar scrutiny of right-wing or settler groups. This legislation is part of a long-term effort by some Israeli hardliners, backed by the government, to weaken Israel’s democracy by stifling dissent. While its supporters attempt to liken it to existing US law, it has drawn significant opposition from many quarters, both within Israel, from the US State Department and among the American Jewish community. And still, there is a real possibility that the bill will pass in the next few weeks.
Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is trying to sell the argument that her pending “NGO transparency” bill is no different than a U.S. law called the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA. In reality, the two pieces of legislation are worlds apart in intent and effect, and the differences go to the heart of the problems with Shaked’s bill.
First, FARA applies to all foreign funding – governmental and private – of U.S. persons or organizations, ensuring transparency about any foreign donor’s efforts to sway U.S. policy. The Shaked bill applies only to funding from foreign governments – funding that is already transparent under existing Israeli law. The measure does not apply to funding from nongovernmental foreign sources.
This distinction is neither accidental nor trivial. Israel’s progressive nongovernmental organizations are the main recipients of funding from foreign governments that support the progressive, democratic values embodied by these NGOs. Shaked, who has made clear her desire to quash dissent, has crafted her bill to target only these NGOs while permitting those that promote agendas more in line with her own views to continue to operate as always. The discrimination implicit in this bill is so clear that even Israeli Knesset member Michael Oren, a former U.S. ambassador, has criticized its “one-sided exposure, which ignores the funding sources of extreme-right nonprofits.”
