The statement, issued on Wednesday by UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, lists Israel along with countries such as Belarus, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Ethiopia and Venezuela.
Israel was named due to the bill approved by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation six months ago to restrict funding by foreign governments to nonprofit organizations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the bill throughout most of its formulation. However, he ordered it frozen after Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said such a law would be struck down by the High Court of Justice.
Although the law never reached the Knesset, Pillay said in her statement: "In Israel, the recently adopted Foreign Funding Law could have a major impact on human rights organizations, subjecting them to rigorous reporting requirements, forcing them to declare foreign financial support in all public communications, and threatening heavy penalties for non-compliance."
Israeli occupation forces carried out a series of invasions, abductions, and movement restrictions across the occupied...
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel to reverse a pending ban on 37...
Thousands of tents supplied by China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to shelter displaced Palestinians in Gaza...
As Gaza enters the bleakest period of winter, children are dying of hypothermia, drowning in flooded...
