When is a non-governmental organization (NGO) actually an arm of state power and interest, masquerading as a non-political do-good civil society group? For starters, this absurd category, known as a GONGO - a governmental non-governmental organization - applies to the dozens of Israeli and Palestinian advocacy groups that are funded primarily by the European Union, its member states, as well as Norway and Switzerland.
For Europe, NGO funding is a major form of promoting state interests, with goal of changing Israeli policy through the political activities of these organizations.
In politics, as in nature, such hostile actions produce opposite reactions, and the impact of these Europe-funded political campaigns has alerted Israel's democratically elected representatives in the Knesset.
These objections often take the form of proposed legislation that seeks to prevent such abuse. The latest draft would prohibit all foreign government grants above NIS 20,000 for political entities whose members or employees promote NGO political warfare against Israel. In particular, the proposal refers to NGOs that campaign for discriminatory boycotts, use false war crimes allegations to urge legal action in international courts, deny Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish and democratic state, incite racism and support armed attacks or terrorism.
While more specific than similar legislation introduced (and withdrawn) last year, the definitions remain problematic, and the new proposal was immediately denounced as "anti-democratic." Supporters, in turn, refer to the abuses of European soft power as anti-democratic and neo-colonial, in that they seek to use the power of unaccountable NGOs to impose their preferences on Israel.
Given the complexities, instead of proceeding directly to legislative proposals, the concerned MKs should begin by reviewing the details, holding hearings and inviting European officials. This process would show that every year, taxpayer funds are channeled to tens of fringe groups many of which engaged in demonization. Some of this money comes from government aid and development ministries, while more goes first to private or church groups such as Diakonia in Sweden and ICCO in Holland.
From there, the funds are allocated to numerous NGOs active in BDS - boycotts, divestment and sanctions - as well as promoting false war crimes allegations and other forms of political warfare.
For example, B'tselem, Yesh Din, Gisha, Breaking the Silence and their Palestinian allies were responsible for many of the allegations in the infamous UN Goldstone report on Gaza, designed to promote the isolation of Israel. (To his credit, Judge Goldstone later acknowledged that these claims were invented, but NGO officials did not.) Similarly, many of the lawfare cases against Israeli officials, including efforts directed at the International Criminal Court, involve the European funded GONGOs.
