To return to the new Peace Now website click here.

Jerusalem Post: "Knesset nixes parliamentary inquiry into NGOs by landslide"


Excerpts and link to: Ha'aretz: "Knesset votes down proposal to probe funding of leftist NGOs" follows those of the Post article.


----------------------

Jerusalem Post: "Knesset nixes parliamentary inquiry into NGOs by landslide"

By GIL HOFFMAN
07/20/2011

Two bills proposing to probe activities and funding of left-wing NGOs turned down; Lieberman calls PM's behavior "grotesque," but still views campaign as a "success," despite voting defeat.

(excerpts)

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu scored a victory over his rival on the Right, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, on Wednesday night when the Knesset rejected Israel Beiteinu's proposal to form a parliamentary inquiry committee to probe non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that target the IDF.

Peace Now issued a statement after the vote saying that stopping the formation of the parliamentary inquiry committees "did not erase the shame Netanyahu earned by backing the anti-boycott bill."

Peace Now secretary-general Yariv Oppenheimer said the prime minister's opposition to Wednesday's bills was only a tactical maneuver to defuse public pressure on him.

Read the entire article

--------------------------

Ha'aretz: "Knesset votes down proposal to probe funding of leftist NGOs"

By Jonathan Lis

(excerpts)

Following a stormy debate, the Knesset voted yesterday against a contentious proposal to investigate funding sources for human rights organizations in Israel.

A majority of 57 MKs voted against the two bills, proposed by Yisrael Beiteinu MK Faina Kirshenbaum and Likud MK Danny Danon; 28 voted in favor of the proposal to set up two parliamentary inquiry panels to investigate NGOs.

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni was vocal in her condemnation of the proposal yesterday, calling it undemocratic.

"The idea that Knesset members probe people who do not share their opinions is shocking and should never have been brought forward," Livni said.

"Beyond being an anti-democratic (proposal ) it also harms the interests of the State of Israel," Livni added. "The idea that MKs want to investigate citizens who are not party to their views is horrifying."

"An ill wind is blowing through the country - created by (Prime Minister Benjamin ) Netanyahu's coalition," Livni said.

Americans for Peace Now also spoke out against the proposal to probe NGOs, stating that American Jews "must do everything ... to stop these appalling attacks on what makes the Jewish state so central to our values system."


Read the entire article.