ROUND-UP
NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
EL-SISI REITERATES CALL FOR
‘RELIGIOUS REVOLUTION’ IN ISLAM
ISRAELI ELECTION
‘SUBJECT TO MASSIVE AND
BLATANT SUBVERSION’
Professor Gerald M Steinberg, president of watchdog group NGO Monitor, said that Israeli democracy suffers from the “severe problem of
foreign interference”. Steinberg was responding to a Washington Post
article, in which he was quoted, analysing the role of foreign money in
the Israeli election. “No other democratic country in the world is subject
to such massive interference and blatant subversion,” said Steinberg.
“Groups like V-15, OneVoice, Ameinu and the powerful New Israel Fund
operate entirely outside Israeli government regulations and campaign
financing laws, and this must end – no democracy can allow itself to be
manipulated by unaccountable and irresponsible political frameworks.”
Following the elections, the Washington Post published a story about
the amount of foreign money injected into the campaign. While the
paper said there were millions in foreign money spent on the race, there
was no evidence of tens of millions having been spent.
Steinberg praised the Washington Post piece for “highlighting the severe
problem of foreign interference in and efforts to manipulate Israeli democracy”, but he thought it was too dismissive of European efforts to
influence the elections. “Kessler’s piece gave short shrift to the tens of
millions of dollars provided annually by European governments to political groups such as B’tselem, Peace Now, and dozens more,” Steinberg
said. “This practice is a form of modern imperialism, with the Europeans
using money for NGOs as the main form of influence. All of these forms
of interference and manipulation will be examined in detail in the Knesset in coming months.”
Article courtesy of Matsav.com
6 JEWISH LIFE ■ ISSUE 83
JERUSALEM AT ‘BOILING POINT’
A hard-hitting EU report on Jerusalem warns the city has
reached a dangerous boiling point of “polarisation and
violence” not seen since the end of the Second Intifada
in 2005. Calling for tougher European sanctions against
Israel over its continued settlement construction in the
city – which it blames for exacerbating recent conflict
– the leaked document paints a devastating picture of
a city more divided than at any time since 1967, when
Israeli forces captured the east of the city.
The report has emerged amid strong indications that
the Obama administration is also rethinking its approach to Israel and the Middle East peace process,
following the re-election of Binyamin Netanyahu as
Israel’s prime minister. The leaked report describes the
emergence of a “vicious cycle of violence… increasingly threatening the viability of the two-state solution”,
which it says has been stoked by the continuation of
“systematic” settlement building by Israel in “sensitive
areas” of Jerusalem. The document is prepared jointly
every year by the heads of mission of the European
countries represented in Jerusalem. The group advises
EU foreign policymakers on the situation in the city,
while making recommendations for action.
An Israeli government spokesman remarked: “This is
so extremely one-sided a report that it distorts