Likud bill aims to restrict political activities by NGOs - Mati Tuchfeld and Gideon Allon

by Mati Tuchfeld and Gideon Allon

Bill proposed by MK Yoav Kisch would extend election campaign funding laws to unaffiliated organizations • In 2015, "Victory 15" campaigned against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but because it did not endorse specific party, it could spend freely.

A new bill aimed at reducing the involvement of NGOs in Knesset elections was unveiled on Sunday. The bill, introduced by Likud MK Yoav Kisch at a meeting of coalition party heads, would essentially apply Israel's elections laws to advocacy groups such as Victory 2015 ("V15"), which campaigned against the Likud-led government in the March 2015 general elections although it did not endorse a specific candidate or party. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he would consider supporting the measure. 

It is believed that V15 received tens of millions of dollars to fund its campaign to unseat Netanyahu, but since it did not explicitly back a specific party or candidate, it did not have to comply with Israel's strict campaign finance and propaganda laws. V15 now operates as part of a larger movement called Darkenu ("Our Way").

The new bill would drastically limit political advocacy by V15 and similar organizations, mainly because they would not be able to spend freely on issues germane to elections or parties.

"Propaganda that is not affiliated with specific parties but nevertheless helps a party or a political bloc is exempt from the rules governing parties, even though this activity and the parties it supports share a similar goal: influencing the Knesset elections," the bill says. "As a result, organizations can circumvent election laws to the point that foreign funding and corporate donations can have undue influence over campaigns." 

The bill calls for a "remedy to this distortion, by defining that any organization that engages in activity that would normally be associated with parties during a campaign, be considered an 'actively involved organization' and would have to comply with fund-raising laws and other rules that apply to parties." 

Kisch says the bill would ensure that organizations do not skirt Israel's elections laws. 

"Last year, we all raised a collective eyebrow when V15 spent copious amounts of money during the campaign," Kisch said Sunday. Kisch said this was not the first time such schemes had been devised, recalling the scandal surrounding former Prime Minister Ehud Barak's 1999 election, when NGOs were used prop up his campaign using a now-defunct loophole in Israeli law. 

"We must make sure the Israeli political system does not devolve into the American system," Kisch said. 

Likud officials said they were not concerned over the effect the bill would have on right-wing organizations, such as Im Tirtzu and the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization representing communities in Judea and Samaria. 

"The law will apply across the board, but you cannot compare the funds raised by V15 and the Left to those raised by right-wing groups," a party official said Sunday. 

Darkenu responded to Kisch's bill with a statement saying: "Israel is not Turkey, and we will not let Netanyahu act like [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan by trampling on our democratic right to disapprove of the worst government in Israeli history."

Mati Tuchfeld and Gideon Allon

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=32241

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