JERUSALEM: Amnesty International said Tuesday it was alarmed at reports Israel was planning to target its funding in retaliation for its stance against Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The Israel Hayom daily ran a two-page story Tuesday saying the London-based rights group would be the first organization hit by a 2011 law which penalizes those who advocate boycotting the country or products from its settlements.
The freesheet, which is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Finance Minister Moshe Kahalon had decided to use the legislation to remove the tax-free status of donations to Amnesty’s Israel branch.
Haaretz daily said the finance ministry would summon Amnesty representatives to a hearing before implementing the change.
“The reports that the Israeli government plans to punish Amnesty International over its settlements campaign are deeply alarming,” the group said in a statement.
“While we have not been officially informed of any such action by the authorities, if true, this would be a serious setback to freedom of expression and an ominous sign for the ability of human rights NGOs in Israel to operate freely and without arbitrary interference.”
The finance ministry did not issue any statement on the issue Tuesday and did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Netanyahu’s government, seen as the most right-wing in Israel’s history, passed legislation in March banning entry to foreigners who support boycotting the Jewish state or its settlements, which are illegal under international law.
It sees the boycott movement as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism — a claim activists deny, saying they only want to see an end to Israel’s occupation.
Last year, Israel budgeted 118 million shekels ($32 million, 30 million euros) to fight the high-profile BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement.
Amnesty said that removing its tax-exempt status would be “the latest effort by the authorities to silence human rights organizations and activists who criticize the Israeli government and call for accountability.”
Amnesty slams reported Israeli plan to dissuade its donors
Amnesty slams reported Israeli plan to dissuade its donors
Trial opens in Tunisia of NGO workers accused of aiding migrants
- Aid workers accused of assisting irregular migration to Tunisia went on trial on Monday, as Amnesty International criticized what it called “the relentless criminalization of civil society”
TUNIS: Aid workers accused of assisting irregular migration to Tunisia went on trial on Monday, as Amnesty International criticized what it called “the relentless criminalization of civil society” in the country.
Six staff members of the Tunisian branch of the France Terre d’Asile aid group, along with 17 municipal workers from the eastern city of Sousse, face charges of sheltering migrants and facilitating their “illegal entry and residence.”
If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison.
Migration is a sensitive issue in Tunisia, a key transit point for tens of thousands of people seeking to reach Europe each year.
A former head of Terre d’Asile Tunisie, Sherifa Riahi, is among the accused and has been detained for more than 19 months, according to her lawyer Abdellah Ben Meftah.
He told AFP that the accused had carried out their work as part of a project approved by the state and in “direct coordination” with the government.
Amnesty denounced what it described as a “bogus criminal trial” and called on Tunisian authorities to drop the charges.
“They are being prosecuted simply for their legitimate work providing vital assistance and protection to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in precarious situations,” Sara Hashash, Amnesty’s deputy MENA chief, said in the statement.
The defendants were arrested in May 2024 along with about a dozen humanitarian workers, including anti-racism pioneer Saadia Mosbah, whose trial is set to start later this month.
In February 2023, President Kais Saied said “hordes of illegal migrants,” many from sub-Saharan Africa, posed a demographic threat to the Arab-majority country.
His speech triggered a series of racially motivated attacks as thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia were pushed out of their homes and jobs.
Thousands were repatriated or attempted to cross the Mediterranean, while others were expelled to the desert borders with Algeria and Libya, where at least a hundred died that summer.
This came as the European Union boosted efforts to curb arrivals on its southern shores, including a 255-million-euro ($290-million) deal with Tunis.
