The primary mandate of human rights organizations is to protect the individual from the government's despotic power. So it's only natural that in dictatorships the regime seeks to silence and suppress these groups. In democracies, however, the government overcomes its natural instincts, recognizing that watchdog organizations are essential – not only to protect individuals from the injustices of the regime, but also for the health of the entire public space.
The Knesset has chosen to change the rules of the game. It seeks to use its power – the power of government – to examine the funding of human rights groups on the grounds that this money comes from anti-Israeli sources. But any intelligent person knows that the Knesset intends to silence criticism itself. These elected representatives want to create a parallel between human rights organizations and Israel's enemies to undermine public support for the former. The government seeks to delegitimize its critics in the public's mind, as if to say that the discourse on human rights is part and parcel of the betrayal of national interests.
Human rights organizations must be judged by their works, not their funding sources. Their job is to put us in front of a critical mirror. Are we keeping our promises to ourselves, the promises of Israel's legal code, of the Declaration of Independence, the international conventions we have signed and the grand Jewish tradition we belong to?
Read the full article on the Haaretz website
Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern is Vice President of the Israel Demoracy Institute and a Professor of Law at Bar-Ilan University. Prof. Avi Sagi is a Professor of Philosophy at Bar-Ilan University and a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute.