Leftwing Israel NGOs condemn harassment, death threats

Leftwing Israel NGOs condemn harassment, death threats

February 07, 2016
telaviv
telaviv




Tel Aviv — Israeli leftwing NGOs on Friday jointly condemned attempts to depict their leaders as foreign agents, saying that such claims have led to harassment and even death threats.

Five leftwing NGOs held a rare joint press conference in Tel Aviv to express their concern at increasingly personal attacks they have been subjected to in recent months.

They said they were speaking on behalf of 50 pro-peace or human rights organizations.

“We are facing an orchestrated effort to destroy civil society in Israel,” said Yuli Novak, president of the Breaking the Silence group which provides a platform for former soldiers to denounce the army’s actions.

She said NGOs had faced “an unprecedented wave of attacks and (the campaign’s) strength is taking root in the highest political levels, including the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu.”

The leaders of the leftwing NGOs claim that they receive regular death threats and harassment.

Outside the event protesters holding placards with “Traitors” written on them were kept away by private security guards.

A new government bill to be considered in parliament next week would compel NGOs majority-funded by foreign governments to declare this in all of their official reports.

The text does not specifically refer to leftist organizations, but they are the ones it would impact.

Rightwing NGOs supporting Israel’s occupation of the West Bank tend instead to rely on private donations, such as from American Irving Moskowitz who grants funds for Jews to buy homes in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

“The government tries to make us despair and make us invest time and energy in fighting its antidemocratic legislation,” said Tania Hary, director of Gisha, an association that fights for freedom of movement for Palestinians.
“We stand in the midst of a struggle for Israeli democracy and we have no intention to lose this fight,” said Novak.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who proposed the law, argues it will boost transparency as the government seeks to fight foreign interference and attempts to delegitimise the state of Israel.

Comparisons have been made with the polarisation of Israeli society at the time of the 1995 assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by a rightwing Jewish extremist opposed to peace with the Palestinians. — AFP


February 07, 2016
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