Tel-Chai Nation

Caroline Glick writes about the Knesset's decision to probe where leftist NGOs get their funding from. It hasn't been without [leftist] opposition, of course, but there's something else here that's startling as well:

Israel is today in the throes of a powerful backlash against the Knesset’s decision last week to establish a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the foreign funding of Israeli NGOs that engage in political warfare against the state.

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni claimed on Tuesday that the commission shows that “Israel today is deteriorating and abusing the very values for which we want to fight. The way that Israel is presented by the belligerent, violent government is hindering Israel’s ability to defend itself.”

As head of the opposition, over the past two months Livni has angrily opposed every initiative supported by the government as loudly as she can, regardless of its merits. So it isn’t surprising that she would condemn the commission. More jarring are the statements by Likud ministers condemning the Knesset move.

It has been known for years that European governments finance Israeli anti-Israel pressure groups. The exact amount of funding has never been determined. No one can tell the public whether or not these groups could survive without foreign funding. The Israeli public deserves to know just how Israeli these groups are and what foreign governments require them to do in exchange for receiving funding.

So does the European public - it's their tax Euros at work, after all. Money that could be used to help create better job opportunities in European countries that have problems with business is being abused for the sake of anti-Israel activities.

And lest I forget, Livni, on her part, once again lets down.

Some estimates place foreign funding for Israeli NGOs at NIS500 million per year. Some estimates have claimed that foreign donations make up the majority of many of the radical leftist groups’ budgets.

Take Ir Amim for instance. Ir Amim is a group dedicated to undermining Israeli sovereignty in eastern, southern and northern Jerusalem. Last year NGO Monitor reported that Ir Amim receives 67 percent of its budget directly from European governments.

What does this mean about the nature of this group? Can it be reasonably called an Israeli organization?

It is hard to understand why exposing this information to the public would be a cause of consternation and worry for the likes of Likud ministers Dan Meridor, Bennie Begin, Michael Eitan and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin who have been outspoken in criticizing the formation of the Knesset panel of inquiry.

More likely than not, what really bothered these gentlemen from Likud was that these groups are not simply being called out for the European funding they receive. They are being accused of receiving money from Arabs and assisting terror groups.

In remarks in support of the probe proposed by his Yisrael Beitenu party, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman did not simply accuse the likes of Ir Amim, B’Tselem, Adalah, New Profile, Breaking the Silence, the Public Committee Against Torture, Human Rights Watch, Ittijah, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Gisha, Moked: Center for the Defense of the Individual, Yesh Din and Physicians for Human Rights in Israel of being on Europe’s payroll.

He said that these groups, “help terrorists, and their main aim is to weaken the IDF and its ability to protect the citizens of the State of Israel.”

The notion that Israeli NGOs may have ties to terrorists is without a doubt political dynamite. And people get frightened by dynamite. But a new report indicates that Lieberman’s accusations are an accurate depiction of reality.

THIS WEEK Im Tirtzu, the Zionist student movement released a report that makes a convincing case that foreign Arabs are funding Israeli Jewish and Arab NGOs with the aim of criminalizing Israel and influencing Israel’s political discourse in a way that constrains Israel’s ability to defend itself.

Im Tirtzu’s report is titled, “Support by Arab foundations and states for organizations working against the policies of the State of Israel and the IDF.” It focuses on two Palestinian organizations headquartered in Ramallah: The Welfare Association, and the NGO Development Center.

The Welfare Association was established in 1983 for the purpose of building a sustainable Palestinian society. It operates in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, Gaza, throughout Israel and in Lebanon. It receives money from the EU and the World Bank and separate European governments. It also receives money from Arab governments and Arab governmental funds from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and OPEC. Of its 2004 budget of nearly $30 million, more than half came from Arab sources.

Let's take a moment now to say that's it's very disappointing that a few ministers made such a foolish opposition of their own to this legislation. The public has a right to know, and they're acting as though this is wrong? Good grief.

However, Dan Meridor has already been on the quasi-leftist side for a long time now, so it doesn't seem too surprising if he opposes this.

THE PROPOSED inquiry has not only raised the hackles of Israeli politicians. It has provoked the ire of European politicians as well. During his visit here this week, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store threw diplomatic niceties to the seven winds. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, he condemned Lieberman for sponsoring the inquiry into foreign funding of Israeli NGOs hissing, “I think it is a worrying sign,” about the state of Israeli democracy.

Norway is a key funder of some of the most radical Israeli and Palestinian NGOs. It is also increasingly a major fount of anti-Semitic blood libels. Store himself endorsed one such blood libel when he wrote a blurb on the back cover of a book about Operation Cast Lead written by two radical physicians named Eric Fosse and Mads Glibert.

The two men spent the mini-war at Shifa Hospital in Gaza which Hamas used as its command center. There they broadcast Hamas propaganda back to Norway. Then they returned home and wrote a book in which they claimed that the IDF entered Gaza with the express goal of murdering women and children.

And Store endorsed their book.

No wonder he's scared and chitter-chattering about the inquiry into NGO funding - there's every chance his government's shady dealings will register big in this case. Israeli politicians from the right who're against the inquiry would do well not to oppose it, because Norway in particular must be exposed for the horrors they've invested in funding.

Labels: anti-semitism, Europe, Israel, Israeli Arabs, Jerusalem, Knesset, Moonbattery, political corruption, Scandanavia, terrorism