When US President Barack Obama was elected, he promised to create the most transparent presidential administration in history. Apparently he has forgotten his love of transparency, or simply neglected to let his State Department in on the goal. Regardless, it is highly ironic that the US State Department now finds itself in the ridiculous position of criticizing Israel’s government for being too transparent.
The source of this latest “friendly disagreement” is the draft of an Israeli law currently working its way through the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
The law mandates that all Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) operating in Israel which receive more than 50% of their funding from foreign governments make that information public. The law requires these NGOs to include details of money received from foreign governments in all of their official publications and communication with Israeli officials. It also requires political activists from these NGOs to wear identifying name badges when on Knesset property, just like lobbyists in Israel wear.
Critics of the transparency law, both within Israel and internationally, claim the law is discriminatory because most of the NGOs funded by foreign governments happen to be left-wing entities.
One NGO that would be affected by this law is Victory 15, an Israeli subsidiary of a US-based organization called One Voice that worked hard in the last Israeli elections to undermine Netanyahu’s Likud Party and promote a left-wing agenda. One Voice is staffed by many former Obama campaign officials, and allegedly received a $350,000 grant from the US State Department which it forwarded to Victory 15 and used against Netanyahu. Following reports of this interference, Senators Cruz and Zeldin called for an investigation, and the US Senate launched a probe into the State Department’s alleged misuse of federal money to support the anti-Netanyahu effort in Israel. A Republican strategist who worked for Netanyahu’s campaign spoke out after the election and claimed the US worked hard behind the scenes to try and defeat Netanyahu.
In light of his own State Department’s actions, it’s not surprising – although it is shockingly hypocritical – that President Obama’s envoy to Israel, Ambassador Dan Shapiro, voiced strong criticism of Israel’s plan to mandate transparency in NGO funding from foreign governments. Ambassador Shapiro met with Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, the sponsor of the Knesset bill, on Sunday to discuss his concerns. On Monday, the US Embassy in Tel Aviv posted two press releases criticizing the bill.
In the first, the US Embassy drew a distinction between existing US law regarding the same sort of foreign funding and the proposed Israeli law. The United States does not limit the amount of money foreign governments can give American NGOs, nor does it require those NGOs to report or publicize that information. The press release speculated that the Israeli transparency law would create a “chilling effect” on democracy.
In the second press release, the US Embassy tried to downplay its disagreement with Israel. But it also noted that Ambassador Shapiro has concerns about this law’s effect on Israel’s “free and functioning civil society.” Somehow, the US has concluded that simply requiring NGOs to reveal the influence of foreign governments on their activities constitutes an assault on free speech and freedom of dissent.
In today’s issue of the Israel Hayom newspaper, Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked responded to Ambassador Shapiro’s concerns. She said:
“I was very happy to meet with the ambassador, and I felt that the American administration’s interest and concern were genuine. But there is nothing to worry about: The State of Israel is a strong and vibrant democracy, and so there is no need for other countries to intervene in Israeli internal legislation. Our door is always open for dialogue with friends.“
Minister Shaked also noted that the Americans are not the only ones opposed to Israel’s attempt to expose the influence of foreign government funds on the domestic political discourse within Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday that the European Endowment for Democracy gave the left-wing Israeli humanitarian organization B’Tselem a €30,000 grant to fight the passage of the transparency law. The European Endowment for Democracy is supported by the European Union, which is currently suspended from official relations with Israel because it recently enacted legislation to label Israeli settlement products.
“Every Israeli organization has the right to oppose any legislation. But it is very surprising to me that foreign governments are sending their long arms into an internal legislation process.”
Since this bill threatens the ability of left-wing foreign governments like the EU, the current US administration, the United Nations, and others to hide their manipulation of Israel’s internal politics, it isn’t surprising at all they are doing everything they can to fight it. The bill does not prevent any organization from accepting a foreign government’s money as long as they make sure Israeli citizens and politicians know who pays them.
So Ambassador Shapiro and President Obama, why would that be a problem unless you have something to hide?
