Ayelet Shaked
Ayelet ShakedYonatan Sindel / Flash 90

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is seeking to open an investigation against several leftist non-profits responsible for harassing IDF troops and disseminating propaganda suggesting that they abandon their posts and refuse to serve in Judea and Samaria, Walla! News reports.

The groups, Shaked believes, have been receiving contributions from foreign organizations and governments but have failed to report theirs relationships with these organizations to Israeli authorities.

Receipt of money from foreign governments would require the groups to register as foreign agents, which would limit their access to IDF checkpoints and other security installations.

Shaked has asked the Finance Ministry's Registrar of Non-Profit Organizations to conduct an initial check of the long-standing rumors regarding the foreign funding, as a first step to a full-blown investigation.

Among the groups suspected of taking foreign funds and failing to report it is Machsom Watch, which stations volunteers at IDF checkpoints, harassing soldiers who check Palestinian vehicles for bombs and weapons.

Another group, called “Combatants for Peace,” conducts tours of Arab towns and villages in Judea and Samaria for foreign visitors, providing solely a point of view that opposes Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria.

Other groups to be investigated promote similar agendas. The common denominator among all of them is that they claim to be funded by private donations, mostly from Israelis, though Shakes believes there is evidence this is not the case. 

In a letter obtained by Walla!, Shaked told the Registrar she had “received information that these organizations have not reported their funding sources.”

The organizations listed in her letter, she wrote, “are known for their activities agains the state in Judea and Samaria, and according to reports from international organizations such as NGO Monitor, they receive funds from states in the European Union.”

Machsom Watch responded by calling Shaked's suspicions “a cheap attempt to besmirch us. We have not received any official requests for documentation, but it is interesting that instead of seeking to preserve democracy and human rights, the Justice Minister is acting to hurt organizations that work for positive good." 

"Our organization operates according to the law, so we expect this request for an investigation to fall away as the lack of evidence becomes apparent,” the group added.