European Parliament Subcommittee

2.7.10

European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights holds exchange of views on the situation of civil society and NGOs in Israel

The Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and the Mossawa Center spoke before the Subcommittee on Human Rights in the European Parliament – The Israeli mission to the European Union requested the participation of an extreme right organization

The European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human rights held a discussion on June 23, 2010 on the situation of civil society and NGOs in Israel. The Subcommittee, which is part of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Relations, invited PCATI and the Mossawa Center, as well as the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and Observatory for the protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of FIDH and OMCT, to participate in the discussion. It also discussed the human rights situation of the Arab minority in Israel.  The discussion was held following the introduction of four new bills before the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) that infringe on the freedom of human rights organizations in Israel.*

Jafar Farah, director of the Mossawa Center, asked the European Parliament to take immediate measures to prevent the adoption of the four bills threatening the activity of civil society organizations in Israel. He called for the use of conditionality in scientific, industrial, cultural and educational cooperation agreements between the EU and Israel. He also warned the members of Parliament as to the introduction in 2009 in the Knesset of 21 new discriminatory bills directly targeting the Palestinian citizens in Israel.**

Ishai Menuchin, director of PCATI, denounced the unprecedented collaboration between government ministers and extreme right organizations, as illustrated by the Minister of Education’s use of the extreme right organization Im Tirtzu’s paper to undermine academic freedom.

According to our information, the European Union officials follow closely the legislative attempts at restricting civil and political freedoms. Moreover, representatives of the European Union recently gathered in Tel Aviv to discuss recommendations in case the aforementioned bills should be adopted by the Knesset. The European Commission representative to the discussion, Ricardo Serri, mentioned the recently published European Neighborhood Policy Progress Report for 2009, which mentions the one of the aforementioned bills as having the potential to ‘seriously curtail freedom of association and other fundamental rights’.

MEP Heidi Hautala, chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee, said the EP would request clarifications from the Israeli government regarding the state of the laws proposals. Several parliamentarians called for a conditioning of the support of the European Union for research projects and industrial collaboration with Israel to the respect and guarantee by Israel of the freedoms of expression and association, and of human rights for all its citizens. Financial cooperation between the EU and Israel is estimated at half a billion Euros a year.

The Israeli deputy ambassador to the EU also took part in the discussion. The Israeli mission to the EU was active in the past in preventing meetings between members of the EP and Arab members of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) and NGOs. The ‘NGO Monitor’, an extreme right organization, participated in the debate following demands by the Israeli representation to the EU.

MEPs warned the Israeli government against harming the representatives of the Arab Minority, activists and human rights groups, as was the case with the arrests and investigations of the director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the director of the Mossawa Center and the director of Rabbis for Human Rights, as well as with the incitement campaigns against the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages and the New Israeli Fund.

Nathalie Stanus from the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network asked the EU to publicly raise concern about the proposed legislation restricting the freedom of expression and association in Israel. She said that the proposal reminded her of attacks against Human Rights Defenders in neighboring Arab countries. According to EMHRN, organizations and activists in Israel are concerned and feeling threatened. The EMHRN asked the EU to act according to the EU guidelines on Human Right Defenders.

* The four new bills are the “Disclosure Requirements for Recipients of Support from a Foreign Political Entity – 2010” bill which seeks to curtail foreign funding (including from the EU) to human rights NGOs in Israel by labeling “political NGO” any NGO that seeks to influence political opinion and asking them to register as political parties, thus losing their tax-exempt status; the “Associations Laws (Amendment – Exceptions to the Registration and Activity of an Association – 2010” bill which aims to dissolve existing NGOs, and prevent the registration of new NGOs that were or will be involved in providing information in legal proceedings for war crimes against senior Israeli government officials or military officers; the “Forbidding boycott activity – 2010” bill which envisages criminal sanctions for Israeli citizens involved in initiating, encouraging or providing support to a boycott of the State of Israel, a ban on entering Israel for foreign citizens, and a reverse boycott for foreign government entities; and the ‘Infiltration Prevention’ bill which envisages a jail sentence of up to 20 years for any ‘infiltrator’, including refugees, and any person assisting an infiltrator.