Under the Freedom of Information Act, political and human rights activist Sahar Vardi, Ofer Neiman, Rachel Giora and Kobi Snitz have filed a request, through Attorney Eitay Mack, with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, regarding financing by foreign entities abroad in the fight against the “de-legitimization” of Israel.

For several years now, the two ministries have disagreed on the allocation of powers for dealing with the “de-legitimization” of the State of Israel abroad, and in particular the connection with NGOs, groups and individuals overseas who support the State of Israel and its policies. The State Comptroller himself has had difficulty understanding what exactly the two ministries are doing in this matter.

Logo from the conference organized by the daily newspaper Yidiot Ahronot and YNet about the fight against the boycott of Israel

According to the applicants: “It is not at all clear what’s the official definition of the two ministries for ‘de-legitimization,’ and it appears that they see their fight against citizens criticizing the State of Israel abroad as military campaign. It’s clear that the Ministry of Strategic Affairs’ budget of $140 million is not going solely to pay the salaries of the few employees working in the ministry itself, but rather is being spent on contracts with various entities, while at the same time the ministry refuses to identity them or to disclose the criteria for collaboration with them. In our opinion, there is a real danger of sliding down a ‘slippery slope’ of anti-democratic concealment, undisclosed disputes between the two ministries, a military approach to their activities, and a confusion of definitions.

“In addition, the sweeping confidentiality with which the two ministries are acting is inappropriate, especially in light of the position of the Israeli government regarding Israeli human rights organizations which receive funding from foreign countries. Since Israel’s control over the occupied territories is not an internal Israeli issue, but rather an international one, seeing as countries from the European Union and the United States and their nationals have taken upon themselves the burden of financing humanitarian needs of the Palestinian population and activities of the Palestinian Authority — it is clear that there must be transparency regarding funding from Israel state organizations, groups and individuals abroad who support the continuation of the occupation for the foreseeable future. Therefore, we have requested all information pertaining to agreements with and the financing of activities by foreign entities – such as non-governmental organizations, groups, individuals, journalists, bloggers and others in the struggle against ‘de-legitimization,’ as well as the procedures and criteria for contracts with such entities.”