VZCZCXRO2886
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHTV #0439/01 0560908
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 250908Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5631
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 000439 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2020 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KWBG IS
SUBJECT: KNESSET CONSIDERS CONTROVERSIAL NGO LEGISLATION TO 
REGISTER AS FOREIGN AGENTS 
 
Classified By: DCM Luis G. Moreno for reasons 1.4 (b),(d). 
 
 ¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: The Knesset passed a preliminary reading of 
legislation on February 17 that would require individuals and 
NGOs to register any funding received from foreign political 
entities. Many NGOs were concerned with the possible effects 
of the draft legislation, which they decried in the press as 
part of a trend of delegitimizing the NGOs that criticize 
Israel, particularly those which provided testimony for the 
Goldstone Report. Several right-wing NGOs called for the 
draft legislation as a means of exposing NGOs which they 
claim function as political agents of foreign countries and 
that influence domestic politics and falsely legitimize 
international criticism. The MOJ and MFA are working to 
adjust the legislation so that it is not out of line with 
Western standards, and have requested sample legislation from 
the U.S. regarding both laws regulating NGOs and laws 
registering lobbyists as representatives of foreign 
governments. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Knesset passed preliminary legislation that 
would register foreign funding of NGOs on February 17. By all 
accounts, the proposed legislation will likely be amended 
before the Knesset passes it as law after its second and 
third readings, but the current version would require 
registration of all foreign funding from political entities 
and public disclosure of such funding whenever used for any 
"political activity." The draft law's definition of 
"political activity" is "activity which aims to influence 
public opinion in Israel or to influence any actor within any 
governmental authority regarding any of the elements of 
domestic or external policies of the State of Israel." This 
broad definition of political activity is at the heart of 
this controversial legislation. Also, the draft legislation 
would require NGOs receiving foreign funding to register with 
the GOI registrar of political parties. 
 
¶3. (SBU) NGOs such as ACRI, B'Tselem, and Gisha quickly 
criticized the proposed NGO legislation as directly 
threatening their ability to function. They claimed publicly 
that it could remove their tax-exempt status, quickly 
affecting their bottom line and possibly preventing private 
donors and foreign governments from funding their activities 
due to restrictions against funding the payment of taxes to a 
foreign government. They also complained of possible effects 
on their freedom of speech due to the legal consequences of 
failure to comply with the proposed disclosure rules not only 
in print and Internet material, but also during interviews 
and public appearances related to their advocacy. 
 
¶4. (C) NGO Monitor President Gerald Steinberg, a conservative 
professor of political science at Bar Ilan University who 
initiated the push for this legislation during a December 
Knesset conference that was boycotted by most NGOs, told 
PolOff on February 24 that the legislation aimed to replicate 
the U.S. Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). He described 
the human rights NGOs in Israel as having become thoroughly 
discredited in the eyes of most Israelis because their 
activities were political in nature, and not truly concerned 
with human rights. He decried what he termed the NGOs' 
overblown allegations of war crimes at every turn and 
specifically cited B'Tselem's refusal to recognize even 
simple facts contrary to its political agenda; B'Tselem's 
counting of Hamas operatives as among the civilian dead 
during Operation Cast Lead just because they wore civilian 
clothes was one egregious example. Steinberg described such 
NGOs as being dedicated to ending the Israeli occupation of 
the West Bank with no regard for what would happen 
afterwards, as though the solution was really that simple and 
there were no consequences from Israel's 2005 withdrawal from 
Gaza. 
 
¶5. (C) Steinberg said the legislation was aimed to "send a 
signal" that Israeli human rights NGOs' activities were in 
fact "political warfare" that had consequences for Israel 
internationally, with the Goldstone Report being a 
predictable culmination. He rejected the idea that the 
legislation would curb freedom of speech as he maintained 
that left-wing NGOs had long monopolized the public space, 
accrued much soft-power internationally, and needed to be 
opposed by increasing transparency. He saw these NGOs as 
playing a crucial role in a vicious cycle whereby foreign 
(mostly European) governments funded actions that manipulated 
domestic politics, undermined Israel's international 
legitimacy, and falsely legitimized such anti-Israel actions 
as the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign. 
Steinberg is currently suing the European Union for violating 
Freedom of Information laws for funding Israeli NGOs secretly 
and estimated that the EU provides almost 10 million dollars 
in funding to Israeli NGOs per year and that individual 
European states' funding, particularly Britain, France, 
 
TEL AVIV 00000439  002 OF 002 
 
 
Germany, Norway, and Switzerland, brought the total to tens 
of millions of dollars. 
 
¶6. (C) B'Tselem Director Jessica Montell, who estimated her 9 
million NIS ($2.4 million) budget is 95 percent funded from 
abroad, mostly from European countries, told PolOff on 
February 10 that she did not believe the legislation would 
pass in its current form. ACRI's International Communication 
and Development Coordinator, Melanie Takefman, also told 
PolOff on February 10 that she believed the troublesome 
legislation would be amended and that the NGOs would likely 
be able to influence the draft legislation so that it would 
achieve its goal of greater transparency without restricting 
the NGOs' ability to operate. Both denied any need for 
greater transparency, but said they would welcome it if it 
applied equally to all NGOs, including NGO-Monitor and 
especially Jewish settler organizations. 
 
¶7. (C) New Israel Fund (NIF) Associate Director in Israel 
Hedva Radovanitz, who manages grants to 350 NGOs totaling 
about 18 million dollars per year, told PolOff on February 23 
that the campaign against the NGOs was due to the 
"disappearance of the political left wing" in Israel and the 
lack of domestic constituency for the NGOs. She noted that 
when she headed ACRI's Tel Aviv office, ACRI had 5,000 
members, while today it has less than 800, and it was only 
able to muster about 5,000 people to its December human 
rights march by relying on the active staff of the 120 NGOs 
that participated. Radovanitz commented that the NIF was 
working behind the scenes through many NGOs to prevent the 
NGO legislation from passing in its current form. She 
commented that she believed that in 100 years Israel would be 
majority Arab and that the disappearance of a Jewish state 
would not be the tragedy that Israelis fear since it would 
become more democratic. She also said the NIF was currently 
re-evaluating its strategy and was hoping to create a 
movement rather than just a lot of NGOs. She said the NIF had 
no plans to build a human rights constituency within the 
right wing of Israeli society, though she believed politics 
had shifted to the right for the foreseeable future. 
 
¶8. (C) The Ministry of Justice Director for Human Rights and 
Relations with International Organizations, Hila Tene, told 
PolOff in a February 10 meeting that she and the MOJ team 
that sit on a weekly legislative review panel would be 
strongly advising against the proposed legislation. She did 
not believe the broad definition of political activity would 
be included in the draft that would emerge from the 
Constitution and Law subcommittee. She also mentioned the 
vast amount of proposed legislation by the current Knesset 
that has failed to ever become law. The MFA Director for 
Human Rights and UN Issues, Simona Halperin, also told PolOff 
on February 11 that the MFA would be advising against the 
legislation. She asked for comparative legislation from the 
U.S. regarding NGOs and the registration of foreign agents. 
 
¶9. (C) PolOff provided the MOJ and MFA, as well as the NIF, 
ACRI, and NGO Monitor with the State Department's "Guiding 
Principles for Non-Governmental Organizations" 
(www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/shrd/2006/82643.html ) and links to 
DOJ's FARA legislation. All sides accepted the guiding 
principles as helpful to achieving their ends. Steinberg 
additionally commented, however, that Israel was not like any 
other country due to the threats to its existence and the 
ideal presented in the principles might not be achievable as 
Israel was surrounded by enemies whose political allies were 
taking advantage of its democratic and legal institutions to 
achieve significant gains. He argued that he did not want the 
NGO legislation to feed into the delegitimizing rhetoric, but 
that such an unintended consequence might be an acceptable 
cost to reduce the power of the NGOs' current monopolization 
of human rights rhetoric for politicized purposes. 
Cunningham