Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein on Tuesday warned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he would not be able to legally defend bills restricting foreign funding of NGOs.
Weinstein said in a letter to Netanyahu, obtained by Israeli media on Tuesday, that the proposed legislation was unconstitutional.
RELATED:Rivlin: New NGO bill ‘brings chaos" for political gainBegin declares NGO bills ‘practically dead’"The bills severely damage a number of constitutional rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of association and the right to equality."
Weinstein added in the letter that the passage of the laws would put
Israel in a category with pariah states that have taken similar action.
The bills seemed all but dead after an appeal from Minister-without-Portfolio Bennie Begin thwarted them.
However,
last week,
Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman requested that MKs
Ophir Akunis (Likud) and Faina Kirschenbaum (Israel Beitenu) draft a new
NGO bill, which the Ministerial Committee on Legislation is expected to
authorize in the coming days.
The measure seeks to limit foreign-government funding to political organizations.
Following Netanyahu’s call for Akunis to further clarify and define
which organizations are political, the new version of the bill divides
NGOs into three categories, combining elements of both MKs’ original
bills.
The new draft, which is signed by both Akunis and Kirschenbaum, forbids
any foreign- government donations to NGOs that rejects Israel’s right to
exist; incites racism; supports violence against Israel; supports
putting Israeli politicians and IDF soldiers on trial in international
courts; calls for boycotts of the state; or for IDF soldiers to refuse
orders.
In addition, donations from within Israel to such organizations will be subject to a 45 percent tax.
Political organizations, such as B’Tselem or Peace Now, will also have to pay a 45% tax on donations.
However, they will have the option of undergoing a hearing in the Knesset Finance Committee, which may decide to waive the tax.
Non-political organizations that receive state funding will be tax-exempt
and may receive unlimited donations from foreign governments.
This category includes Magen David Adom and the Hebrew University, among other NGOs.
The ministerial committee originally approved Kirschenbaum’s bill, which
would levy a 45% tax on foreign governments’ donations to NGOs, and
Akunis’s, which capped such contributions to political NGOs at NIS
20,000 -
– but the initiatives were thwarted by an appeal from
Begin, who declared them “dead.”