Targeting human rights organizations

Advancing legislation to restrict human rights organizations’ operations

The government has been promoting The Associations Bill (Amendment – Donation from Foreign State Entity) - 2024 since February 2025. In its original version, the bill sought to tax donations received by Israeli nonprofit organizations from foreign governments or official state institutions at a rate of 80% and to divest the courts of jurisdiction to hear petitions filed by organizations whose primary funding comes from such entities. In July 2025, a new draft was presented by the chair of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK Simcha Rothman, together with the bill’s original sponsor, MK Ariel Kallner. Under the new draft, donations from foreign political entities would be taxed at 23%, and organizations would be given the option of declaring they that they would not engage in a range of activities defined as “political:” organizing protest actions, promoting legislation, engaging in Knesset advocacy, and similar activities. Violations would result in higher taxation and financial penalties. The option to provide a declaration disincentivizes social activism, and since it encompasses major tools available to and used by Israeli human rights and anti-occupation NGOs, it may be effectively irrelevant for them. The bill also includes a provision requiring organizations that receive funding from a foreign political entity to pay a particularly high filing fee for High Court petitions: 50,000 ILS (~ 17,225 USD) instead of 2,000 ILS (~ 700 USD). If passed, this provision would significantly limit access to the courts, one of the main avenues available to civil society organizations and to the communities they represent.

In practice, this is a tool for silencing organizations that are critical of government policy and a threat to their survival. If passed, the law would harm freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the right to access justice. Moreover, by focusing solely on donations from foreign state entities, the bill violates the principle of equality and discriminates against these organizations as compared to organizations that receive donations from private foreign entities or from any other source.

Over the past year, the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee has held several discussions on the bill. Although it has not been approved for a first reading, the debates themselves have served as a platform for vilification and incitement against human rights organizations, including organizations that oppose the occupation.

Harassment of human rights organizations using bureaucratic tools

In addition to these legislative efforts and incitement aimed at civil society organizations, administrative tools are being weaponized against these organizations, often following vexatious complaints by right-wing organizations or MKs. These include complaints made to the police or the Registrar of Associations alleging support for terrorism. Such actions are meant to hound organizations and force them to divert time away from their regular work in order to deal with the allegations, in an attempt to disrupt operations and threaten their survival. Another tactic is lodging complaints with the Registrar of Associations alleging irregularities in organizations’ reporting on foreign donations and donations in general. These complaints trigger audits and tie up organizations in unnecessary administrative proceedings that usually end in nothing. Banks sometimes refuse to receive or transfer organizations’ funds on the basis of false claims of concerns about support for terrorism, and in recent years organizations have been forced to take legal action to resolve these issues.