Eydar - Lift the veil

Dror Eydar
Israel Hayom
14 November '11

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=827

As in many such cases, almost all news outlets jumped on the bandwagon once again and condemned what they called "the law that will strangle left-leaning non-governmental organizations," despite the fact that the law relates to organizations with both right- and left-wing views. But the media knows what it is protecting – foreign governments are working to change the direction of Israeli voters by funding controversial organizations whose activities are at the heart of the Israeli political debate.

Faulty discussions in the media treat the law as if it is final and peremptory, while the process for its approval has actually only begun. Before it is finalized, there should indeed be a public debate about foreign funding of local NGOs, not for humanitarian purposes – which is just a veil – but for political purposes.

There is a worn-out contention that the law, if approved, would damage Israel's image. And what about the tremendous damage to Israel caused by European funding of these organizations? Our image is damaged because the Europeans want our image to be damaged. Most of the foreign funds in the Middle East go to Israeli (and Palestinian) political NGOs, with a small fraction of the funds making their way to human rights groups in Syria, Libya and Egypt, even though organizations in those countries are in dire need of that money.

Another worn-out contention is that the law harms democracy. This claim itself cheapens democracy. Are readers familiar with members of the group called "Breaking Silence," or the Israelis who travelled abroad during Apartheid Week to tell people how evil and racist Israel is? You will almost never see them here because foreign countries pay Israelis to go abroad and take part in anti-Israel campaigns. This is what we want to allow here? How is that related to democracy?

This law is more concerned with strengthening Israel's independence and sovereignty than with political organizations.

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