Educational NGO Im Tirzu, which has led public campaigns against NGOs with foreign funding, praised the bill, but said it is not enough.
“The government of Israel must, at the same time, promote a bill to protect Israeli democracy by taxing these organizations and preventing them from receiving benefits from the state and keep them away from government institutions,” Im Tirzu’s spokesman said. “It cannot be that an organization that is supported by Palestinian funds in the hundreds of thousands of dollars… will not be drastically taxed and defined as a foreign agent or will get benefits like national service volunteers, like B’tselem.”
Im Tirzu quoted former Supreme Court president Meir Shamgar as saying “support for a political entity by a foreign country is something that has to scare anyone who believes in democracy.”
