“[The NGO Law is] indicative, more than anything, of the budding fascism creeping into Israeli society” – Isaac Herzog, Opposition Leader

On 11th July, Israel’s Knesset passed the contentious NGO “Transparency” Law by a majority of 57-48 votes.

Listen to our conference call below to delve Behind the Headlines and explore the NGO Law and its ramifications with experts from the field.

The bill, which seeks to harass and stigmatise critics of the current government’s policies, undermines Israel’s democratic character and risks creating a damaging chilling effect on freedom of expression.

As NIF UK Chief Executive Adam Ognall explains in our statement on the law:

“This law is not about transparency; it’s about intimidation. It targets Israeli NGOs that receive funding from foreign governments, and those are overwhelmingly organisations with liberal worldviews. Enormous amounts of funding coming to ultranationalist and settler organizations from abroad by private donors are not impacted by this legislation.”

To enable you to explore this dangerous setback for Israel’s democracy in detail, we held a conference call on Monday 18th July featuring experts from Israel:

Ronit Heyd – Executive Director of Shatil which has been at the forefront of advocacy efforts to curb this, and other, anti-democratic legislation Reut Michaeli – Executive Director of the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, one of the 27 organisations on a list of NGOs which could be affected by the law, produced by the Ministry of Justice.

The call included discussion of the NGO Law’s ramifications, other anti-democratic legislation on the agenda, the work being done to counteract such legislation, and what we in the Diaspora can do to help.