The real danger to Israel's civic society

Gerald Steinberg/Asher Fredman
NGO Monitor
(First published in Haaretz)
06 August '10

In Russia, Venezuela, Egypt and other repressive societies, the activities of foreign-funded, non-governmental organizations promoting democracy are subject to police harassment and legal restraints. The Israeli environment for NGOs is the polar opposite, with thousands of these organizations, from across the political spectrum, operating freely. Taking advantage of this situation, a number of political-advocacy NGOs are leading campaigns that use the rhetoric of human rights, international law and humanitarian aid to delegitimize Israel and label its leaders as "war criminals." This has led to growing criticism of these organizations and of their main funders - primarily European governments and the New Israel Fund.

In response, these groups have launched a campaign, claiming that the criticism constitutes an assault on democracy. A flood of opinion articles have portrayed criticism of NGOs as a right-wing, McCarthyite assault. Their aim is to delegitimize debate on these organizations.

The NIF released a statement darkly warning that "right-wing members of the Knesset have pushed legislation that would limit the rights of many progressive NGOs in Israel, categorizing them as 'political' in the manner of Russia, China and Iran."

A recent opinion piece by Ishai Menuchin in Haaretz English Edition ("An assault on democracy," July 16 ) is a prime example of this campaign. He claims "the Knesset now has a disturbingly small minority of representatives (about 10 percent ) commonly identified with human rights and social justice." He provided no details, but was presumably referring to the 4 percent from the ex-communist Hadash party, for which he has been a candidate, and a few sympathizers. To Menuchin's way of thinking, 90 percent of Israel's elected representatives are opponents of human rights. Menuchin, who heads the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, thus attempts to place anyone who disagrees with his extreme positions beyond the pale. Ironically, his purported "defense of Israeli democracy" delegitimizes the very system it claims to defend.

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