The joint committee of the Knesset Committee and the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chaired by MK Yoav Kisch (Likud) on Monday approved by a vote of 10 to 6 sending to a preliminary plenum vote an amendment to the Party Financing Law. The amendment has been dubbed the “V15 Law” after a subsidiary of the leftwing movement OneVoice that received $349,000 in funding from the US State Dept. to unseat PM Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2015 elections campaign.
The new amendment defines for the first time an “entity active during elections” whose political contributions will be limited by the Party Financing Law, in order to prevent inappropriate interventions of non-party groups in Knesset elections.
The approved bill will set three levels in terms of reporting such activities: up to $26,000 there will be no requirement to report; from $26,000 to $105,000 the contribution must be registered with the State Auditor, but will not entail criminal penalty; but anyone who contributes more than $131,000 (half a million shekel) with fraudulent intent will be subject to criminal penalty.
Chairman Kisch promised to build a “cement wall” to prevent illegal campaign contributions and to guarantee fair elections.