On June 4, we had a special Zoom session for the Friends Associations with Atty Dr. Hassan Jabareen, Director of Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. The subject was one that potentially affects the WASNS Educational Institutions and all of our Friends Associations: a proposed bill that would tax certain foreign donations by 80%.
Dr. Jabareen gave the background for this legislation, including the program of the extreme right-wing parties that want to control all of the West Bank without opposition, and he outlined the ways in which the law is designed so it can be applied just to organizations deemed left-wing by the county’s far right-wing finance minister. Although the law arose from the racism espoused by the far right, it will hurt Jewish civil society and pro-democracy, women’s and LGBQT rights organizations at least as much or more than Arab ones.
The bill is a direct attempt to eliminate our freedom of speech and action, as well as another chink in our already teetering democracy. Adalah is one of the organizations applying the Supreme Court to have the bill declared illegal.
There is a glimmer of hope, however. Foreign governments have expressed their opposition to the law, and for now it has been moved to a back burner while coalition crises follow one after the other. That does not mean the law has been dropped, and Dr. Jabareen urged the Friends attending the session to contact their government representatives to put pressure on them to help quash this bill.
Samah and Nir mentioned that during their recent trip to the UK, they were interviewed in the Guardian, and this bill was the main subject of the interview, meaning not just foreign governments but foreign press are well aware of the issue.
Following the session, the heads of our Friends Associations have been active in trying to understand the issues involved, alerting the press and contacting elected officials. This is an issue for which we all must work together if we are to succeed.
