Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday told heads of coalition parties that he believes the NGO Law is too weak, and that he intends to pass a total prohibition on funding of Israeli NGOs by foreign governments, Ha’aretz reported.
Netanyahu added that he had succeeded in stopping money coming from Norway to Israeli NGOs – by which he probably was referring to his call on the Norwegian government to withhold aid slated for a women’s organization named after Dalal Mughrabi, who led the terrorist squad that carried out the 1978 “bloody bus” attack, in which 35 Israelis were murdered and 71 wounded.
Netanyahu said that Norway accepted the request, due to “Israel’s aggressive foreign policy.”
According to the current NGO law, passed by the Knesset last July, NGOs whose budgets come mostly from foreign political/government sources are required to declare it to the NGOs Registrar, and note it in all their official publications, as well as in their correspondence with public officials. Fines for violating the current law go as high as $8,200.
Last month, Netanyahu announced that he would not meet with foreign leaders who meet with NGOs that operate against IDF soldiers: “I tell the leaders of the world, you can meet with organizations that are working against IDF soldiers, but not with me,” Netanyahu said, noting that “we maintain this policy even vis-a-vis our best friends,” a clear allusion to the PM’s cancellation of his meeting with the German foreign minister after the latter had met with Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem.