Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Ayelet Shaked

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Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is sponsoring a new bill that would force nongovernmental organizations to disclose foreign funding sources if they make up more than half their budgets.

Shaked said Sunday that the proposed bill “follows publications and data indicating that a high number of Israeli NGOs receive significant contributions from foreign countries or entities, which often try to influence government policy and blatantly interfere in Israel’s internal affairs,” Israel Hayom reported.

Foreign entities using their financial ties to Israeli groups to influence policy “is done to an unprecedented scope and in a way that undermines Israel’s sovereignty and undercuts the authority of an elected government,” Shaked wrote in the bill’s abstract.

The bill stipulates that any NGO primarily funded by foreign donations would need to state that fact clearly in its publications, reports, and formal communications with any public or government body. It also stipulates that such NGOs’ annual reports, and their communications with state bodies, would need to include the full details of their funding sources.

NGOs would be fined $7,500 for any violation of the proposed requirements, the bill states.

By: JNS.org