Israel Clamping Down on Civil Society, May End Up Harming Jewish Communities

Israeli “Censorship Law” - Europe is Outraged by Israel’s Intention to Enact a Law Restricting Donations and Examining Response Measures: Fear of an International “Donation War”

Israel, a neighbor and a partner of the EU which in recent years had been sliding to authoritarianism, is continuing to take hostile states against EU countries by clamping down on NGOs receiving European donations. The Israeli Knesset continues to promote a controversial bill that would impose an 80% tax on donations to Israeli NGOs that receive aid from foreign countries, effectively closing many of them from the ability to raise funds. The censorship bill was recently approved for further legislation by the Constitution Committee, and has sparked angry reactions in the international community.

According to sources, several European countries — including Germany, the Netherlands and other countries in the European Union — are examining parallel measures in response to the law. Many countries are outraged at Israel for its decision to prevent donations, and one of the responses currently considered is imposing the same tax on donations from Israel to NGOs in Europe. The law’s initiators presented it as something that would prevent “foreign interference and domestic subversion,” but now they may face a counter reaction that will harm Jewish communities and Jewish civil society around the world.

Another crisis that countries around the world are concerned about is the section in the law that allows the Minister of Finance, without a monitoring mechanism, to exclude donations. According to senior diplomatic sources, the harm to civil society organizations in Israel will be widespread, and will include LGBT, environmental, women’s, and coexistence organizations - organizations that promote liberal values ​​in Israel. The world is concerned that the Minister of Finance will not exclude these donations and that organizations will be at his personal mercy, which is why it is called a “censorship law.” In several European countries, donations to education and welfare organizations are being reconsidered, in order not to create a situation in which, because of their donations, the organizations will become political and will have to show personal loyalty to the Minister of Finance and the current far-right government.

“This is a real blow to the ability to make liberal voices heard in Israel. The government wants exclusive control over the discourse and censor any statement that challenges its narrative - harming freedom of expression in Israel would lead to an unprecedented diplomatic crisis,” said a source familiar with the matter.

The fear now is that the bill will ignite a mutual “donation war” between Israel and a number of countries, in a way that would harm not only non-profit organizations in Israel but also Jewish communities in Europe. Institutions such as Jewish schools, community centers, and Zionist organizations, which sometimes rely on donations from Israel, could face tighter regulations, bureaucratic delays, or even the imposition of new taxes as a parallel countermeasures.