AJC Urges Knesset to Reconsider Bills on NGO Restrictions

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Nov 11, 2011, 06:08 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC calls on the Knesset to reject two bills that could sharply curb foreign donations to Israeli non-governmental groups, and urges seeking other means to address what is perceived as malign foreign influence.

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"These legislative efforts to restrict funding for non-governmental organizations run contrary to core democratic principles that are Israel's greatest strength," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "If there is a concern that foreign, and possibly antagonistic, entities are funding civic or political groups in Israel, then let there be a debate on the advisability of requiring full disclosure of the revenues, and their sources, of such groups across the political spectrum."

One of the bills would limit donations that an Israeli group may receive from foreign governments and international organizations to about $5,500. The other would tax contributions from a foreign government at a 45 percent rate. The bills are scheduled to come up for a Knesset vote Sunday.

AJC urges Israel to stand strong for its laudable democratic and humanitarian values, in the face of those critics who seek to challenge Israel's commitment to these cherished principles of the Jewish state.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee