After much debate and parliamentary wrangling, the Knesset passed a law on Monday obligating non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive more than half of their funding from foreign governments to disclose the fact publicly. Foreign and domestic critics have vigorously denounced the law as anti-democratic and evidence of creeping “fascism” in the Jewish state. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the U.S. Congress released a bipartisan report stating that an Israeli NGO funded by the State Department used its resources to aid the effort to unseat Netanyahu in Israel’s 2015 elections. Elliott Abrams comments:
In Israel, many leftist groups that endlessly attack not only the current government and its policies but their country’s legitimacy and the conduct of the IDF have been funded largely by European countries. The new Israeli law does not prevent [foreign funding], and does not interfere with free speech, but merely says the financial facts must be stated in all public communications by the recipient Israeli group. No doubt the net effect will be to undermine the credibility of such groups, or so it seems to me—and presumably to the new law’s drafters. If you learn Monday that the Netherlands loudly denounced Israel in the UN, and Tuesday that some Israeli group denouncing the government is funded by the Netherlands, you may well put two and two together. In any event, you ought to have the relevant information. . . . .
[In light of the recent Senate report], it any wonder that Israeli lawmakers on the right passed this law? Not only European governments but that of the U.S are in fact doing what Netanyahu denounced: meddling in Israel’s politics. The new law calls for transparency, and nothing more.
And next time you read about bad feeling between Netanyahu and Obama, remember that bipartisan Senate report. Netanyahu opposed Obama’s Iran deal. For this he was accused of meddling in American politics. What did the Obama administration do? It funded a campaign to get Netanyahu thrown out of office.
Read more on Pressure Points: http://blogs.cfr.org/abrams/2016/07/13/israel-secrecy-and-american-meddling/