Several actions by the current government are intended to deny the opposition its essential freedom of action One of the basic principles of a democratic regime is that it allows all citizens to participate in it equally. The basic assumption is that the faction currently in power will be removed someday, and that the opponents of the government are allowed the same rights in spreading their ideas. Another basic assumption is that a change of government is a healthy thing; a regime that makes its replacement difficult is already on the way to dictatorship or at the very least an…

The true essence of the foreign funding bill is its subjugation of all Israeli civil society organizations to the government’s whims. On Friday, December 9, 2011, Israeli civil society fights back at the human rights march By Ehud Uziel | Originally published at HaOkets The revised Akunis-Kirschenbaum foreign funding bill backed by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Lieberman is genius. Their proposed amendment to the income tax law will obligate a 45% taxation rate on donations from “a foreign state entity” to Israeli nonprofit organizations. The amendment will leave room for only one type of exemption for NGOs: those…

Netanyahu freezes the anti-NGO bills – and keeps them as a weapon to be used at any time The mythical, conflict-erasing goat has a place of honor in the annals of Israeli administration. It is based on an ancient morality tale, fabricated a few decades ago, in which a Jew goes to his rabbi and complains he prefers death to life; his large family, forced into living in a small room, bickers endlessly. What should I do, rabbi? The rabbi thinks. Put a goat in the room, he finally says. The Jew is skeptical, but obeys. A week later, they…

IDF Spokesman, Major Peter Lerner, expresses a political opinion. Problem: That’s forbidden to soldiers Everyone who has had the misfortune to serve in the IDF – most Israeli Jews are forced to – has heard, time and time again, the slogan that “soldiers are not allowed to deal with politics.” Naturally enough, this was never true in the higher levels of the army: The Chief of Staff is generally a uniformed politician-to-be. When Dan Halutz said, as deputy CoS, that “[the soon-to-be evacuated settlements] Ganim and Qadim are home”, he was making a clear political statement. But, as a rule, the…