On Sunday, February 16, 2025, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation decided to support a bill that severely undermines fundamental rights and basic democratic principles, making it a part of the judicial overhaul. The bill proposes an amendment to the Associations Law, primarily imposing an 80% tax on donations to Israeli associations received from a "foreign political entity" and denying associations receiving such donations the right to petition Israeli courts on any matter.
The Israeli Law Professors' Forum for Democracy asserts that such a law contradicts the basic tenets of a democratic regime. It is no coincidence that similar laws have been enacted in recent years in authoritarian states.
Civil society organizations play a central role in democracy. They expose injustices, propose solutions, and provide a framework for individuals to organize and promote policy changes. Some of these organizations rely on donations targeted by the proposed legislation, and its enactment would severely harm them. Imposing restrictions on donations to such legally operating organizations constitutes an illegitimate violation of freedom of expression and freedom of association, with the primary aim of silencing government criticism.
Restricting donations to civil society organizations is especially problematic when done selectively, as proposed in the bill. The proposal discriminates between different associations, as it does not apply to donations from foreign private entities. Notably, in recent years, foreign private donors—some of them anonymous—have contributed vast sums to right-wing civil society organizations and media outlets in Israel. Additionally, the bill grants the Minister of Finance the authority to exempt certain donations from taxation at their discretion, without any defined criteria. The bill is clearly designed to harm organizations identified by the government as defenders of Israeli democracy while favoring those aligned with government policy. This constitutes a severe and unacceptable infringement on equality, freedom of expression, and democratic discourse in Israel.
Preventing foreign influence on Israeli public discourse may be a legitimate goal for donation restrictions, but there is no justification for differentiating between state and private donations. In fact, state donations are far more transparent than anonymous private donations, whose motives and conditions remain unknown. Moreover, state donations are granted based on professional criteria, ensure the recipient organization’s independence, and are subject to ongoing oversight. The states that fund Israeli civil society organizations are friendly nations that also contribute to research funds, cultural initiatives, and more. Taxing these donations could have serious international repercussions.
Equally alarming is the proposed denial of these organizations' access to Israeli courts. This provision is unprecedented in Israeli law and constitutes a grave violation of fundamental rights, particularly the right of access to justice and the right to due process. There is absolutely no justification for restricting the right to petition the courts, let alone in the discriminatory manner proposed by the bill. Such a measure would significantly undermine both the right to judicial review and the judiciary’s authority to uphold the rule of law.
The Forum believes that this bill, which seeks to target organizations critical of the government as part of a broader effort to entrench its power through the judicial overhaul, is unconstitutional and must be stopped.
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