Israel's Lieberman says 'traitor' leftist NGOs aid 'terror'

Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights challenge Lieberman to find any impropriety in its accounts.

Middle East Online

First they came for the Palestinians, now they're after pro-peace Israelis JERUSALEM - Outspoken Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Monday accused local left-wing activist groups of aiding militants who seek to harm the Jewish state's security. "It is clear that we are talking here of organisations which are pure accomplices to terror," he told members of his ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party in remarks broadcast on army radio. "Their entire aim is to weaken (the Israeli military) and to weaken its resolve to defend citizens of the state of Israel," he said. The radio said Lieberman also criticised members of his party who did not support a measure last week to launch a parliamentary investigation into the funding of human rights groups allegedly helping to build war-crimes cases abroad against Israeli military personnel. The scope and details of the inquiry, which is being championed by Yisrael Beitenu, are still to be finalised by the parliament's House Committee. Physicians for Human Rights, one of the NGOs likely to be a target if such an inquiry goes ahead, challenged Lieberman on Monday to find any impropriety in its accounts. "If Minister Lieberman, or other officials for that matter, have suspicions about our work or grounds on which to file a complaint against us, we encourage them to do so. We don't have anything to hide," it said in a statement. "Our activities, which aim to bring about a more fair and inclusive society, are carried out by hundreds of committed volunteers, physicians, and staff. Minister Lieberman could learn a thing or two from them, especially with regards to the values of fairness, compassion, and democracy," it said. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said on Monday that Lieberman's anger showed that his policies did not have wall-to-wall support even among fellow conservatives in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. "It turns out that even among right-wing Knesset members, he finds potential traitors," it said in a statement. "Time and again, the foreign minister proves that he does not understand how civil society operates in a democratic country. The role of human rights organisations is to criticise, hold up a mirror and point out possible failures by the authorities," it added. Meanwhile, a group of leading Israeli intellectuals has written to the Israeli parliament to protest plans for an investigation into the funding of left-wing rights groups, Haaretz newspaper said Sunday. On January 5, Israeli MPs voted to form a parliamentary inquiry to investigate the funding of rights groups allegedly helping to build war crimes cases abroad against Israeli military personnel. The letter sent to all 120 members of Israel's Knesset accuses the legislative body of having "raised its hand against democracy in Israel," according to an excerpt of the text published by the Israeli daily. Signed by academics, artists and left-wing political figures, the letter harshly criticises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "He, and each of the 41 MKs (lawmakers) who voted for the establishment of a political committee to hunt the human rights organisations, will be remembered as being the ones who attempted to smash what is left of democracy in Israel and impose a fascist regime," Haaretz quoted the letter as saying. "What is worse, only 17 MKs bothered to try to stop the destruction. Each and every MK who did not find time to oppose the initiative to end democracy in Israel bears personal responsibility for the disaster. A black flag now flies above the legislature in Israel." Among the letter's signatories are professors Yehuda Bauer, Chaim Adler, Yermiyahu Yovel and Micha Ullman, artist Danny Karavan, and Shulamit Aloni, a co-founder of left-wing political party Meretz. Local human rights groups have described moves to investigate them as "authoritarian, immoral and illegitimate."