Diaspora Jewish philanthropists protest ‘dangerous’ NGO funding bill

Dozens of Jewish philanthropists from around the world have written to Israel's Foreign Minister protesting legislation designed to limit international funding of human rights organisations.

The legislation would impose an 80% tax on any funds received by Israeli NGOs from foreign states. It is aimed at curtailing the influence of international governments who are major funders of progressive Israeli civil society organisations, such as the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Bereaved Families Forum and EcoPeace.

More than 60 prominent Jewish philanthropists have called on the Israeli government to “scrap this cynical, dangerous and undemocratic bill”.

“This will deliberately, cripple almost 100 organisations and appears motivated solely by narrow political interests ill becoming of any government, irrespective of its political ethos.”

Describing themselves as “dismayed”, the philanthropists, who have collectively given hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel and Israeli causes, cited several concerns about the impact the proposed legislation would have. It is, they argued “an assault on the philanthropic endeavours of Diaspora Jews.” Many of the organisations targeted by the bill were, they pointed out, originally established with money from Diaspora donors.