Israel silencing gov’t critics, rights defenders in effort to ‘hide its crimes’, B’Tselem says

Two bills that recently passed a preliminary reading in the Israeli Knesset “are part of a calculated assault” by the government to “eliminate human rights groups […] silence government critics and stop us from fulfilling our mission to defend human rights,” Israeli rights group B’Tselem warned in a press release yesterday.

The “ICC law” prevents sharing information with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and punishes violators with up to five years imprisonment.

Slamming the measure, B’Tselem said the law “criminalises our work by making human rights defense a punishable offense.”

While the “NGO taxation law” would allow the government to tax foreign government donations to domestic nonprofits at a rate of 80 per cent while also stipulating that courts need not consider petitions by groups “primarily financed by a foreign political entity”.

“The goal of the law is to destroy human rights organizations by crippling our financial sources. It is explicitly aimed at silencing criticism of the government’s destructive policies, and eliminating any Israeli opposition to the harm inflicted on Palestinians by the hard-right government,” B’Tselem explained.

“These measures are currently targeting human rights organizations, but they are part of a broader pattern of Israeli government initiatives to harm the people living here, abandon them and wipe them out – this time, by silencing those who wish to protect them.”

B’Tselem added that these measures are the latest in a 15-year campaign of legislative manoeuvres and “public smear campaigns” aimed at discrediting transparent, supervised funding from democratic countries in order to delegitimise human rights organisations. “It even includes a corrupt political loophole that allows representatives of the far-right government to offer a tax exemption for donations to favored groups.”

The rights group warns that under the ICC law, nearly all of its work – reporting, researching and publishing on serious violations of Palestinians’ human rights – could be punished by at least five years in prison.

Notably, the ICC’s arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant are not based on work by Israeli organisations, but on official statements made by Israeli decision-makers, among other things.

“Israel continues to perpetrate crimes, flouting every law, norm and moral principle. Now, it is seeking to hide its crimes and silence those who document and report them. We will continue our work to resist the occupation and apartheid and champion a future of freedom, equality and full human rights for everyone between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea,” the rights group said.

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