Dozens of leading figures in the Jewish charity sector have urged Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to scrap the proposed imposition of an 80 per cent tax on donations by foreign governments to Israeli NGOs, condemning it “as a cynical, dangerous and undemocratic bill”.
The signatories include current Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) chair Keith Black, former JLC chair Sir Mick Davis and former JLC treasurer Leo Noé.
In a letter endorsed by 60 philanthropists from the USA, Canada, Australia and South Africa as well as the UK, they say they are “dismayed” by this “punitive bill”, warning it will antagonise Israel’s allies and denouncing it as an “affront” to democratic values.
The bill was introduced by Likud MK Ariel Kallner, who told the Knesset that, from 2012 to 2024, more than 80 left-wing organisations in Israel had received grants of around £265 million from governments abroad. He blamed sanctions imposed on Jewish settlers by the Biden administration on “disreputable blood libels by delegitimisation organisations”.
Israeli NGOs which also receive funding from the Israeli government would be exempt from the levy. The Finance Minister, currently the far-right nationalist Bezalel Smotrich, would also be given discretion to grant exemptions.
But in the letter to Sa’ar, the philanthropists hit out at the move to “deny legitimate and worthy NGOs of foreign state donations by imposing a crippling 80 per cent tax on any such funding.
They claimed: “This will, deliberately, cripple almost 100 organisations and appears motivated solely by narrow political interests ill becoming of any government, irrespective of its political ethos.”
The letter added that many of the organisations targeted by the legislation had been “established with seed funding from diaspora Jewish philanthropists, without whom they would not be in a position to receive foreign state funding. This bill is an assault on the philanthropic endeavours of diaspora Jews.”
It went on: “It seems reckless, therefore, to pass legislation that will antagonise allies at a time when they are most needed, for the sole purpose of hobbling organisations that the current government sees as domestic opponents. This bill prioritises narrow politics over the national interest.”
The bill, the signatories argued, was “a dangerous attack on the democratic foundations of the state and more in keeping with the policies of authoritarian regimes seeking to block external support for democracy than those of a democracy”.
If any organisation were acting illegally, they said, there were legal routes to address this “rather than bulldoze through legislation that is dangerous to the functioning of democratic society whatever one’s politics”.
Among the UK signatories – who all signed in a personal capacity – were Tony Blair’s former Middle East envoy Lord Levy, Dame Vivien Duffield (whose family foundation was instrumental in the creation of the JW3 Centre), Tony Bloom – the inspiration behind the new Jewish community hub in Brighton – and former UJIA chairs Louise Jacobs and Bill Benjamin.
American signatories included Taglit-Birthright co-founder Charles Bronfman, managing director of the Morningstar Foundation Michael Gelman and past president of Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, Susie Gelman.
