A bill modeled on US legislation? More like North Korea
Op-ed: Justice Minister Shaked's new NGO labeling bill is set to severely damage free speech in the country, even without the infamous lobbyist-badge clause.
In fact, the justice minister's proposal contains draconian clauses that severely violate people's basic right for freedom of speech, and are reminiscent more of Russia and North Korea than the US. The American procedure Netanyahu was referencing merely consists of the requirement of any representative of an organization appearing in front of a House committee to give a statement detailing the funding the organization received from foreign governments or the American government.
In comparison, the Israeli bill requires any NGO that receives over 50 percent of its funding from a foreign government state that it is supported by donor nations in every one of its official publications, including newspaper ads, road signs, and even Facebook posts. Such an extreme situation, in which the government dictates what an organization must write in every official publication or letter, doesn't exist in any sector in Israel and certainly doesn't have any equivalent in the democratic world, including the United States.
If the bill becomes law, it would be the first time the state dictates what its citizens must write and say, and forces any NGO representative to go through public shaming in a discriminatory and vicious manner. Furthermore, the bill perpetuates the discrimination between right and left-wing NGOs, and will bring about a situation in which an NGO that accepts donations from foreign association, foundations, and private donors will be able to express its position freely and without revealing the sources of its finances at all.
On the other hand, an NGO that accepts donations from foreign governments as well will not only be forced to disclose these donations in special public forms as is the case today – it will be forced to write it in every official document, to create the impression that its main goal is fulfilling the donor country's will.
Admittedly, the NGO labeling bill will not include representatives having to wear a badge while visiting the Knesset, as Netanyahu ordered, but its other clauses that demand the NGO's representatives to mention their sources of funding at every moment, are several times worse. In principle, they're no different from wearing a badge on one's clothes.
When Netanyahu demands transparency, he forgets to mention that MK Ze'ev Elkin already passed a special law that deals exclusively with donations from foreign nations, according to which every NGO must reveal the donations it receives from other governments every quarter.
The Israeli law is also more severe than the American procedure, since it applies to all NGOs, not just those that appear before the parliament.
Unsurprisingly, the Israeli law differs from the American procedure when transparency is concerned as it does not require NGOs funded by the State of Israel to be transparent. The situation as it is today and the bill proposed by Minister Shaked give "immunity to right-wing organizations and don't demand transparency about money that comes from the State of Israel or from foreign residents."
I asked the general director of left-wing NGO Peace Now, Yariv Oppenheimer, what he thought about the bill that will be brought to a vote at the Knesset next week. "Over the past few weeks," Oppenheimer said, "the government and right-wing organizations have been running a campaign with the sole purpose of delegitimizing anyone who thinks differently from them. This campaign's climax is the NGO labeling bill, which turns Im Tirtzu's 'plant' campaign into official Israeli law."
"The very thought," he continued, "that the government will decide for me what is written in an ad or a Facebook post, in order to force me to present myself as representing foreign interests – is angering and outrageous. The anger intensifies when the law is pointed only towards certain NGOs and the rest of the right-wing organizations can keep enjoying foreign donations and undisclosed state financing without the public ever finding out about it."
