Tonight, the Knesset will vote on amendments to the “Law and Disclosure Requirements for [Groups] Supported by a Foreign Governmental Body” (2011), also known as the NGO Funding Transparency Bill. NGO Monitor again highlights the need for dialogue with European governments based on mutually agreed-upon guidelines.

Such guidelines will prevent funding to NGOs active in anti-Israel or antisemitic campaigns, denying the right of Israel to exist, or supporting terror. This approach has been validated by developments in a number of European parliaments, including in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and United Kingdom, where debates on government funding and based on NGO Monitor research, have already begun.

Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, said, “The law will not bring major changes and will not prevent NGOs, which are already obligated to report on foreign government donations, from receiving money. The debate in Israel about NGO funding will continue, and therefore an inter-parliamentary dialogue on guidelines and evaluation mechanisms remains important. The establishment of working groups with Knesset members and European parliamentarians to oversee these allocations would enable both parties to voice their concerns and to devise new policies.”