May 29 – June 6 2011
Recent Anti-Democratic Legislation
May 29 | Monetary Limitations on Foreign Funding for NGOs
Last week, the Ministerial Committee on Legislation rejected a private bill proposed by MK Ofir Akunis (Likud). This bill stipulates that an Israeli NGO would not be allowed to receive donations of more than 20,000 NIS (approximately $6000) from foreign state entities.
Despite the fact that MK Akunis presented his proposed bill as intended to “only” harm human rights organizations, the bill would have affected research institutes, hospitals, education and culture institutions, and human rights organizations. The majority of foreign state funding provided to Israeli NGOs is directed to a variety of public institutions. For example, in 2007, the European Union has transferred 261 million Euros in donations to Israeli organizations, and only roughly 0.5% of those were intended for human rights organizations.
Furthermore, ACRI views this bill as yet another step in the ongoing assault on civil society and human rights organizations in Israel. While this specific bill was too extreme for the Ministerial Committee, ACRI is concerned that other, “softened” bills curtailing the work of human rights organizations will continue to be approved. Unfortunately, many Members of Knesset have yet to understand that freedom of activity for civil society organizations is not only legal and legitimate, but in fact essential in a democracy.
May 30 | The “Groping Law”
The Knesset plenum has approved in its first reading an amendment to the Security Authorities Law. According to this proposed amendment, police officers will be authorized to carry out physical searches in clubs, bars, sports stadiums, and their vicinity – even without concrete suspicions against the persons whose bodies or belongings will be searched.
In December 2010, ACRI submitted a policy paper to the Ministry of Justice regarding this proposed amendment, stating that a search with no probable cause, carried out with no guiding criteria, infringes on the right to privacy as well as on the right to dignity. Furthermore, such legislation opens the door for racial profiling and discriminatory enforcement, as was the case with similar legislation in other countries.
June 2 | Biometric Database Regulations
Last Thursday, a special parliamentary committee gave the final approval for the regulations for the establishment of the biometric database pilot program. The meeting was held on Thursday, when most MKs are not in the Knesset, and was attended by only two MKs.
The biometric database is intended to include the fingerprints and facial features of Israeli citizens. This highly sensitive information will be stored in a central database, and will be accessible to the Ministry of Interior, the police, and other security forces. The safest system for information management, which was supported by the majority of experts from various government ministries, was rejected by the government committee on the biometric database because such a system will prevent the police to use the data. Therefore, a much less safe system was chosen, further risking unlawful use of the database.
ACRI strongly criticizes the decision to approve the regulations. Initially, the Biometric Database Law included the pilot program in order to thoroughly examine whether this database is necessary at all. The outline for this pilot, which includes no criteria for success or failure, renders it meaningless.
Upcoming Anti-Democratic Legislation
June 6 | Police Officers Without Name Tags
Today, the Knesset Committee on Internal Affairs is expected to discuss a proposed amendment to the Police Ordinance, requiring police officers to wear name tags. According to this private bill – proposed by MK Uri Ariel (National Union), MK Dov Khenin (Hadash), and MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) – police officers will be required to wear name tags in any activity in which doing so does not risk them, such as political demonstrations and assemblies.
In the past few months, ACRI has seen a concerning increase in incidents of police officers hiding their name tags and even wearing masks during the dispersal of demonstrations – not because of any risk to them but rather to avoid complaints about violent conduct.
On 23 March 2011, ACRI sent a letter to the Chief of Police, Dudi Cohen, asking him to instruct police officers to cease using face covers during the dispersal of demonstrations (as can be seen, for example, in this video from a demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem). Even though the existing law already requires police to identify themselves, this proposed amendment will hopefully safeguard this important mechanism. Officers wearing masks or failing to produce name tags instill fear in demonstrators, thereby creating a “chilling effect” on freedom of expression and freedom of protest and harming the basic foundations of democracy.
In the Spotlight
May 31 | Planning and Building Reform
In the past year, ACRI has been working to promote a reform to the Planning and Building Law, which has been in place almost since the founding of the State of Israel. ACRI, together with Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights and the Association for Distributive Justice, is attempting to advance amendments that focus on social and economic rights, including equal representation in planning committees, public participation, transparency, and the inclusion of representatives of social rights organizations in planning committees. Such amendments to the law will enable more consideration to public needs and interests.
The planning and building reform is currently discussed in the weekly meetings of a joint committee of the Knesset Economic Affairs and Internal Affairs committees. ACRI is participating in these meetings and presenting policy papers to the members. In last week’s meeting, ACRI and other members of the Coalition for Affordable Housing urged the committee to include affordable housing as an integral part of planning procedures. During the discussion, the chairperson of the committee, MK Amnon Cohen (Shas), stated that he cannot see how a planning and building reform can be carried out with no reference to affordable housing, and called on the Israeli government to find a solution which will include affordable housing in the reform.
