22 Human Rights Organizations to President Rivlin: Stop the Wave of Anti-Democratic Legislation!

Leading activists from 22 human rights organizations sent a letter last week to the President of the State of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, demanding that he make every possible effort to stop the wave of anti-democratic legislation being brought to votes in the Knesset. In their letter, the activists wrote: “In recent years, there has been a dangerous and troubling erosion of Israeli democracy on all fronts. We, organizations working for social change and civil and human rights, have been under a fervent onslaught that not only harms us, but also harms Israel as a democracy. This onslaught manifests itself in anti-democratic legislation aimed at silencing critical voices, limiting freedom of expression, diminishing the rights of minorities, and weakening the status of the Supreme Court. Legislative initiatives like the NGO Bill, first and foremost harm organizations working for human rights and peace, along with left-wing groups. Moreover, laws like the ‘Suspension Law’, designed to intimidate and alienate public officials who represent the Arab minority among others, are being fervently advanced in the Knesset – and no one disputes the fact that they are explicitly anti-democratic.”

A photo manipulated by far-right fanatics depicts President Reuven Rivlin wearing a kaffiyeh, the traditional Arab headwear. The caption in Hebrew at the top right reads: “Reuven Rivlin Traitorous Jew Boy, May his name and memory be blotted out.”

A photo manipulated by far-right fanatics depicts President Reuven Rivlin wearing a kaffiyeh, the traditional Arab headwear. The caption in Hebrew at the top right reads: “Reuven Rivlin Traitorous Jew Boy, May his name and memory be blotted out.” (Photo: Al Ittihad)

And “these initiatives are taking place in a hostile atmosphere of incitement and political persecution against human rights and social change organizations. We currently live in a reality in which senior politicians allow themselves to label members of Breaking the Silence “spies,” “traitors” and “foreign agents”; Right-wing organizations pay impostors with public funds to penetrate organizations as “moles” with the aim of defaming them; and there is even a concerted effort to shut down Breaking the Silence through legal means. In parallel, we are witnessing how selective enforcement sends young Israeli Arabs to jail for comments they posted on social media, in a sense that explicitly violates freedom of expression; and administrative detention continues to be used as a legitimate tool against both Palestinians and Israelis alike.” Thus the organizations for human rights and social change in Israel, called the President “to make every possible effort to stop the anti-democratic wave engulfing us; to stop the persecution against civil society organizations and prevent further violations of the freedom to organize, the freedom of expression, and other Israeli democratic values. Only a country that provides legal and political recognition of human and civil rights, and freedom of expression, which embodies the simple and just principles of equal rights and human dignity, is deserving of being called a democracy.”

Among the signatories of the letter: Sharon Abraham Weiss – Association for Civil Rights in Israel; Hagai El-Ad – B’Tselem; Yudith Oppenheimer – Ir Amim; Arik Ascherman – Rabbis for Human Rights; Avi Buskila – Peace Now; Alma Biblash – Human Rights Defenders Fund; Ran Goldstein – Physicians for Human Rights; Yonatan Gher – Amnesty International – Israel; Rawnak Natour and Ron Gerlitz – Sikkuy; Tania Hary – Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement; Ala Khatib – Kav LaOved; Lior Yavne – Akevot – Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research; Raya Yaron – MachsomWatch; Nirit Moskovich – The Social Guard; Reut Michaeli – Hotline for Refugees and Migrants; Yuli Novak –Breaking the Silence; Reem Amer and Ma’ayan Dak – Coalition of Women for Peace; Neta Patrick – Yesh Din; Michael Pinchuk-Assaf, Dalia Kerstein – Hamoked Center for the Defence of the Individual; Hedva Radovanitz – Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights; and Rachel Stroumsa – The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.