FM: Left-wing NGOs 'help terrorists, aim to weaken IDF'

Lieberman reads long list of data concerning funding for a number of organizations, defends Israel Beiteinu initiative to establish a c'tee to probe their funding sources.

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman 311 (do not publish again) (photo credit: Flash 90)
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman 311 (do not publish again)
(photo credit: Flash 90)
During a Monday afternoon Israel Beiteinu faction meeting Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman attacked left-wing NGOs and defended his party's recent initiative to establish a parliamentary committee of inquiry to probe their funding sources.
Lieberman said that "these organizations help terrorists, and their main aim is to weaken the IDF and its ability to protect the citizens of the State of Israel."
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Lieberman read off a long list of data concerning funding for a number of organizations, citing the new profile organization Adalah, the Public Committee against Torture in Israel, for submitting incomplete funding reports to government oversight agencies.
The foreign minister also slammed Human Rights Watch, which he accused of fund raising in Saudi Arabia by promising to attack Israel while not examining the state of human rights in Arab countries.
Last week, the Knesset plenum approved a proposal by Israel Beiteinu to create an inquiry commission to investigate the activities and sources of financing of left-wing non-governmental organizations who, according to the party, are working against IDF soldiers.
The commission will be responsible for investigating where these organizations get their funds from, particularly whether they are receiving money from other states or foreign organizations that are involved in terrorist activities.
The passing of the proposal comes after Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein decided in August that an inquiry will not be conducted into the activities of the left-wing organizations, and the proposal has garnered criticism from human rights and opposition groups.