Briefing call: What you need to know about Israel's proposed NGO funding bill, with MK Merav Michaeli, Naomi Chazan and Michael Sfard
Briefing Call: The threats facing Israeli democracy with Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer
Peace Now report: Who is Funding Israeli Right-Wing NGOs?
Israel’s new NGO Bill – what it is and what it means
APN Statement: Israeli Government's anti-NGO Bill: Hate Crime against Democracy
Recommended Reading - Washington Post: A danger to Israeli democracy

ISRAEL, SURROUNDED not only by threats to its existence but also by governments and movements that practice tyranny, is a stubbornly free society.

This week, Alpher discusses what we can expect in Israel and Israel-US relations in 2016; the notion that the Palestinian issue increasingly will become an internal Israeli affair; how the Arab and Muslim worlds will respond to this and if we will witness external aggression against Israel; and prospects for some sort of international political agreement regarding Syria, spearheaded by the US and Russia

 What is the bill? What does the bill say?

NOTE: This post was updated on January 21, 2016, to reflect changes introduced to the draft bill, as submitted by the cabinet to the Knesset on January 18, 2016. The language of the bill (Hebrew) can be found here. 

The bill’s official title is “Amendment to Bill on disclosure regarding those supported by a foreign political entity (Increasing transparency for those supported mainly by foreign political entities)." It is also known by its backers as the “Transparency Bill.” The bill is an amendment to an existing 2011 law, which determines the disclosure requirements of Israeli non-profit, non-governmental organizations (NGOs or NPOs) that receive funding from “Foreign Political Entities” (foreign governments, the European Union or the United Nations).

APN briefing call  with Israeli democracy expert

Mordechai (Motta) Kremnitzer 

Wednesday, January 6th Time: 1:00 pm (Eastern Time)

Professor Kremnitzer discussed the recent draft legislation aimed at silencing Israeli progressive organizations such as Peace Now, as well as other anti-democratic measures initiated by the Israeli government and the Knesset. He assessed the overall state of Israeli democracy as it faces a governmental assault on civil society, extreme right wing violence and intimidation, as well as a surge in hate speech. 

The recorded call is available here.

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Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer is Vice President of Research at the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) and Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law, where he served as Dean. He is an expert on criminal, military, and public law, and widely considered as a leading expert on Israeli democracy and democracy education. At the IDI, he has been leading the following projects: Constitutional Principles and their Implementation, National Security and Democracy, Arab-Jewish Relations, and Proportionality in Public Policy.

The Israeli government’s gift to Washington this holiday season was the gift of occupation. Literally so. You may have missed the story because of the holiday, but shortly before Christmas, Benjamin Netanyahu’s ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, proudly announced that this year, instead of sending products made in Israel to American friends, he is breaking with tradition and sending gift boxes  containing products made exclusively in settlements in the occupied territories.

Allegedly, this was intended as a message to those who call for punitive economic measures against Israel (ironically, it plays into their hands), but it clearly was aimed at the Obama administration’s rejection of Netanyahu’s settlement policies. Another Netanyahu finger in the eye of an American administration that had the audacity to attempt to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians.