Israel committee to probe funding of human rights groups

Israel’s party leaders “unanimously” agreed yesterday to form a parliamentary inquiry committee to probe the funding of left-wing human rights organisations, claiming they harm Israeli soldiers, according to Haaretz.

A move proposed by coalition whip David Bitan from the ruling Likud party was quickly supported by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who compared the creation of such a committee as equivalent to the US congressional investigation into Russian interference in the American election.

Netanyahu confirmed the decision later in the day at the Christian Media Summit in Jerusalem, alleging that such organisations “operate against” the Israeli army.

“Our soldiers keep us safe and we’ll keep them safe,” Netanyahu said after claiming that “there is no army more moral that the IDF [Israeli army]. That’s a fact.”

Many left wing organisations, such as B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence, have accused Israeli occupying forces of war crimes and record daily incidents of abuse against Palestinians.

Israel prides itself on being the “only democracy in the Middle East”, but recent years have witnessed a crackdown on press freedoms and the work of pro-Palestinian activists, both within Israel and abroad.

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Netanyahu has attempted to restrict the work of human rights groups last July, passing a controversial bill stipulating that all Israeli NGOs which receive more than half of their funding from overseas must inform Israeli authorities of this fact, a move condemned by the EU.

The government’s increased scrutiny on NGOs in the country also comes after the conviction of Elor Azaria earlier this year, an Israeli soldier who shot and killed an injured Palestinian in Hebron. Incriminating footage showing the incident was filmed by a human rights activist, causing anger amongst the soldier’s defenders.

Last month the UN included Israel on a list of 29 states that punished those cooperating with the United Nation’s human rights branches in the country. Those communicating with the rights body had been abducted, detained, held incommunicado, or had disappeared, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour said.

In September, humanitarian activists also decried the suspension of the B1 work visas by the Israeli government, the most common documentation sought by foreign charity workers trying to deliver aid to Palestinians. Groups protested that the suspension was deliberate, arguing that the right-wing stance of Netanyahu’s government had resulted in their work being curtailed.

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