Israel's Far Right Seeks To Cripple Human Rights Groups Which Monitor Government And Army Abuses...

[Purveyor]

Israel's Far Right Seeks To Cripple Human Rights Groups Which Monitor Government And Army Abuses In The Occupied Territories

Ben Lynfield
Jerusalem
Wednesday 24 June 2015

Questions about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s commitment to democracy have intensified with the reintroduction of a bill designed to cripple the Israeli human rights groups that monitor government and army practices in the Occupied Territories.

The bill, tabled by Yinon Magal, a member of the Knesset from the far-right Jewish Home coalition partner, would undermine the funding of the human rights organisations, which depend heavily on foreign support.

Under the bill, if an organisation receives more than $50,000 (£32,000) a year from foreign governments, it would have to pay a 37 per cent tax on those donations. The bill also specifies that government ministries and the army must refrain from co-operating with foreign-funded non-governmental organisations and that they must make clear their foreign funding sources in their correspondence.

An exhibition of the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence, whose work was drawn on in the recent UN report condemning Israeli war crimes in Gaza, which will be affected by the bill An exhibition of the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence, whose work was drawn on in the recent UN report condemning Israeli war crimes in Gaza, which will be affected by the bill (Getty)
Jewish Home has made it clear that the intent of the bill is to stifle what it sees as “foreign” criticism of Israel.

more...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israels-far-right-seeks-to-cripple-human-rights-groups-which-monitor-government-and-army-abuses-in-the-occupied-territories-10343512.html

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

1. From the article...

Israel’s human rights organisations have been instrumental in bringing to light the abuses of the Israeli government.

The work of two groups that would be significantly hit by the bill – B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence – was drawn on in the report issued on Monday by a UN fact-finding commission into last summer’s war in the Gaza Strip that found that Israel may have committed war crimes.

Can't hide the fact that you are an apartheid state? Well then silence the critics.


Shameful...

[Little Tich]

2. No democracy should ever pass a McCarthyist bill like this.

All parliaments have their village idiots. The members of the Knesset, even if they're on the right, should remember that Israel is a democracy, and subsequently sink the bill.