Earlier this week, the Israeli Knesset began debating an anti-NGO bill that would tax foreign government donations to NGOs at 80% and strip them of standing before Israel’s High Court of Justice.
When the Knesset returned from recess and brought this bill to discussion, it picked up exactly where it left off—consolidating executive power by bringing any and all external checks to heel; the next target of the judicial coup is the NGO sector.
This bill takes direct aim at any organization that speaks out, that insists on equality, that criticizes government policies when they do not measure up to basic democratic standards. Vibrant democracies do not fear such things; they embrace them.
The NGOs that will be affected by this law fight for the rights of all Israelis. They insist that they be treated as equal, they protect the right to protest, to speak out, to insist on better. All rights that reflect the values of the vast majority of Canadian Jews and so many Israelis. But this law will offer the government a blank cheque: you voice criticism of the government? You want a better future for your children? We will shut you down and shut you up.
Israeli civil society is in the fight of its life. We stand with them one thousand percent.