Haaretz critical of "McCarthyite" law to prosecute boycott supporters

Haaretz newspaper has described the proposed law to prosecute organisations which support boycotts of Israel as “McCarthyite”. Approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday, the “nonprofit organisations bill”, is intended to silence human rights and civil society groups. The newspaper noted that it reflects the distress and insecurity of those who seek to drag Israel into a “nationalistic and racist place”, which cannot be tolerated in a democratic state.

In its Monday editorial, Haaretz demanded that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers should strike the law down. It pointed out that the chair of the committee, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, opposes the law and intends to appeal against the decision to approve it.

Referring to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein’s announcement that he would be unable to defend the law in the High Court of Justice if a petition is submitted against it, the Israeli daily said that he considered the law as “a kind of punishment, the purpose of which is to create a ‘cooling effect’ and thwart contributions to such groups, and thus impair free debate, one of the key anchors of democracy”.

Weinstein added that restricting contributions and free debate by third sector organisations, which includes those monitoring human rights violations, is practiced in a number of countries “with which it is doubtful that Israel should desirably be placed in the same basket”.

According to the bill, which has seen many amendments, NGOs that call for a boycott of Israel or divestment from Israel; for sanctions against the state or its citizens; or for the prosecution of Israeli Defence Forces’ soldiers, will be required to pay taxes at the rate of 45 per cent of any contribution made by a foreign entity. The bill was approved by a vote of eight ministers to four, after three restrictions were added to it; a clause was dropped regarding sanctions for groups working against “the Jewish-democratic identity of the state”.