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Donations to Israeli NGO rise tenfold after government attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on as he chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem office on 11 September 2016 [REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool]

Donations to Israeli NGO B’Tselem have risen tenfold following a public attack on its activities by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Last week, B’Tselem executive director Hagai El-Ad addressed the United Nations Security Council as part of a special session on Israel’s settlements and military occupation.

Following El-Ad’s speech, Netanyahu lambasted the NGO for joining a “chorus of slander” against Israel. Subsequently, according to 972mag, “thousands of right-wingers took to social media to call for El-Ad’s execution.”

In the week that followed, however, “B’Tselem reported a fivefold increase in ‘small’ donations, which come from individuals, rather than from organizations.”

Then, after Knesset coalition chair David Bitan proposed the revocation of El-Ad’s citizenship, “the donations have increased tenfold.”

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