Punitive tax on donations will silence Israel’s conscience, say critics

For Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition, a new tax regime that could undermine the viability of left-leaning civil society organisations is about rooting out illegitimate foreign influence. Critics say it is about silencing dissent.

But for Tal Applebaum, a volunteer physician at Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), which runs a clinic for asylum seekers in Jaffa, the essence of the NGO is helping the weakest and most vulnerable people in Israel.

The small clinic, marked with a modest sign in four languages on a quiet residential street, treats about a thousand patients a year, many of whom come back multiple times. The patients, adults who have fled Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and other lands, are denied medical care by the Israeli state because of their limbo-like status.

Applebaum and PHR-I fill the void left by the government. “Society must take care of the weak,” she says. “This is the least one can do if he has the time, it’s basic,” she adds, in reference to her own efforts.

Applebaum, a retired Tel Aviv family doctor interviewed during a break, works in a cramped examination room, a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff at the ready on her desk. What the room lacks in space, she makes up for in empathy.

“Life is tough for those who aren’t privileged,” she explains. “I’m privileged and I feel I have to share what I have.”

Although this approach is consistent with the highest values of Judaism, the Netanyahu coalition apparently doesn’t embrace it. PHR-I’s clinic is now threatened as a result of legislation introduced by Ariel Kellner of Likud that passed preliminary reading two weeks ago.