According to the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu, the Knesset passed a bill in its third and final reading that will end national service positions for organizations that receive most of their funding from abroad. The bill that was submitted by MK Amir Ohana passed with 40 votes in favor and 12 voting against it. Im Tirtzu stressed that the bill seeks to end a phenomenon where radical leftist NGOs with foreign funding work to undermine the State of Israel from within.
Im Tirtzu did a study where they found that 12 national service positions are available in 5 different radical leftist NGOs that receive their funding from abroad. These organizations include B’tselem, the Public Committee against Torture, Gisha, Israel Social TV and the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants. According to the report, these organizations are active in promoting the delegitimization of the State of Israel.
In 2014, it was reported that B’tselem hired a researcher named Ateb Abu A-Rub, who told investigative journalist Tuvia Tenenbom that the Holocaust was a lie and he accused Germany of giving money to the Jews. In 2016, the Uvda Program exposed that another B’tselem employee named Nasser Nawaja discussed exposing to the Palestinian Security Forces that a Palestinian citizen was selling land to the Jews, a capital offense under Fatah rule. According to NGO Monitor, B’tselem has faced much criticism for its misrepresentations of international law, skewed statistics and inaccurate research.
Former B’tselem CEO Jessica Montell stated: “I think the word apartheid is useful for mobilizing people because of its emotional power. In some cases, the situation in the West Bank is worse than apartheid in South Africa.” In 2010, B’tselem staff member Lizi Sagie resigned after she wrote on her blog: ‘The IDF Memorial Day is a pornographic circus of glorifying grief and silencing voices. Israel is committing humanity’s worst atrocities. Israel is proving its devotion to Nazi values. Israel exploits the Holocaust to reap international benefits.” Former B’tselem employee and human rights activist Bassem Eid left the organization for they showed no interest in addressing human rights violations unless Israel could be portrayed as the villain.
According to NGO Monitor, in 2009, Public Committee against Torture attorney Majd Bader referred to Palestinian terrorists as “martyrs.” NGO Monitor claims that this particular NGO regularly puts forward unverifiable anti-Israel claims in international forums and in courtrooms outside the State of Israel in order to delegitimize the country. In 2008, Gisha opposed Palestinians with a problematic security background being denied entry to the US. NGO Monitor stresses that Gisha routinely delegitimizes the State of Israel while ignoring Palestinian human rights abuses.
Israel’s Social TV argues that Israel has committed a Nakba against the Palestinians. They advocate for a one-state solution and a right of return for Palestinians. Yudit Ilany, a correspondent for Israel’s Social TV, participated in the 2016 Women’s Flotilla to Gaza. In 2015, they posted a video supporting Palestinian efforts to suspend Israel from FIFA. In 2014, two activists affiliated with Israel’s Social TV posted a video claiming that the “Holocaust was the best thing that happened to the Jewish people” and that the Jewish people “never existed.” According to NGO Monitor, they are also active in supporting the BDS Movement and prominent BDS activist Dalit Baum who founded the “Who Profits” campaign sits on their Public Council. According to Im Tirtzu, the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants has petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice against Israeli policy.
MK Ohana welcomed the decision to remove these groups from the National Service program: “This absurdity wherein the State of Israel provides manpower via national service to organizations that work against it in various ways, both in Israel and abroad, ends today. I want to thank Matan Peleg and my friends at Im Tirtzu who informed me of this absurd reality as well as the Prime Minister and all those who supported the bill. The time has come that we proudly and unapologetically work against those who act against the State of Israel in Israel and abroad. We will not make life easy for Trojan horses operating among us. Whoever goes against the State of Israel, we will go after them.”
Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg also welcomed the passing of the bill: “This law will put an end to the absurd reality in which organizations that receive the majority of their funding from foreign governments exploit the benefits provided by the Israeli taxpayers for their own harmful agenda. This is a historic day for Israeli democracy. Slowly but surely we are ending the era where the state funds those seeking to destroy it.”