Netanyahu accuses France of funding anti-Israel organisations

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday accused France of supporting groups that reject Israel’s right to exist and call to boycott it.

His remarks come after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced on Saturday that Paris was considering banning the foreign funding of mosques in the wake of deadly jihadist attacks.

“This sounds familiar to us. We are also disturbed by such donations to organisations that deny the State of Israel’s right to exist,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu said he had ordered an investigation into French-funded organisations that he labelled anti-Israel.

“The preliminary inquiry has revealed that several European countries, including France, directly support organisations that engage in anti-Israel incitement, call to boycott the country and do not recognise Israel’s right to exist.”

“We will discuss this with them because terror is terror everywhere and incitement is incitement which, apparently, encompasses the world, [and] governments must be as united as possible in dealing with them,” the prime minister added.

Earlier this month, Israel approved the controversial NGO Transparency Law, which dramatically increases transparency requirements for charities and organisations that get most of their funding from foreign governments.

Critics said the law unfairly targets left-wing NGOs critical of Israel’s policies toward Palestinians.