On Sunday, the Israeli Cabinet gave preliminary approval to the Akunis and Kirshenbaum bills, both of which would severely restrict or tax foreign funding for Israeli civil society, and which are the latest salvo in the war against human rights and social justice groups in Israel. 

These bills are a naked attempt to silence voices critical of government policy that the right-wing governing coalition has deemed unacceptable.  This is yet another step in an unprecedented assault on law-abiding, internationally-recognized non-governmental organizations and poses a serious danger to Israeli democracy.

Take Action:

Defend Israeli democracy. Write Prime Minister Netanyahu (November 14, 2011)

Understanding the bills:

Going from Bad to Worse: The New Combined Bill Defunding Progressive NGOs (December 5, 2011)

NIF statement following Cabinet's initial approval of bills (November 13, 2011)

Update by ACRI (November 13, 2011)

AJC Urges Knesset to Reconsider Bills on NGO Restrictions (November 11, 2011)

Curtailing Foreign Funding: What Would Israel Lose? (November 9, 2011)

Report by ACRI (November 8, 2011)

Position Paper by ACRI (June 26, 2011)

Israeli AG defends controversial law on admissions panels (January 26, 2012)

Friends don’t let friends violate democracy (December 18, 2011)

Weinstein tells PM he can't defend NGO bills (December 6, 2011)

Israel's Chief Justice Clashes With Nationalists (December 2, 2011)

Netanyahu should end the anti-democratic witch hunt (December 2, 2011)

With controversial bills, Netanyahu is declaring war on Europe (November 15, 2011)

Public demands social justice, gov’t prefers to attack democracy (November 13, 2011)

Bills limiting NGO funding pass Knesset committee (November 13, 2011)

Britain warns Israel against blocking funds for rights groups (November 12, 2011)

Destructive, and anti-democratic (November 11, 2011)

'Leftist' law a bad joke (November 10, 2011)

Haaretz Editorial: Netanyahu against Israel's peace activists (November 9, 2011)

U.K. envoy cautions Likud MK on bill (November 9, 2011)

Netanyahu backs laws to limit donations to Israeli human rights orgs (November 8, 2011)