54 chapter two An integral part of the Palestinian narrative, not to mention a documented historical fact, memorialization of the experience of the Nakba is vital for the preservation of their cultural and national ties. This law infringes on the rights and freedom of opinion and expression of Palestinian citizens, causing immense damage to any communal, cultural, educational and political initiatives aimed at mutual understanding. Interestingly, in commenting on this law, former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a member of the right wing Yisrael Beiteinu party that sponsored the bill, said “there is no other normal country that funds events comparing its establishment to a catastrophe.”13 What surfaces here is that, for Lieberman, the Nakba is merely being compared to Israel’s Independence Day, and is not understood as a direct and simultaneous effect of the establishment of the state. v. The NGO Foreign Government Funding Law Passed in February 2011, The Duty of Disclosure for Recipients of Support from a Foreign Political Entity Law (2011) inflicts extensive reporting stipulations on NGOs. It compels them to submit and publish quarterly reports on all financial support obtained from “foreign governments or foreign publicly-funded donors, including detailed information on any oral or written undertakings made to the funders” – all of which ought also to be publicized on the websites of that NGO, the Ministry of Justice and Registry of Associations. These reports must include details of the amount and purpose of the funds, the identity of the donor organization, and details of all correspondence between the donor and NGO. The drafters of this law claim that it aims to achieve increased transparency among NGOs, but as stated by Adalah, “these provisions are superfluous since every nonprofit organization in Israel is already required under Israeli law to list its donors and other financial information on its website and to report annually to the government, specifying whether foreign governments have donated money.”14 Nevertheless, this law impedes the ability of NGOs to 13 Jonathan Lis, “Human rights groups petition High Court to overthrow ‘Nakba Law’,” Haaretz, May 4, 2011, http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/human-rights-groups -­petition-high-court-to-overthrow-nakba-law-1.359802. In a comment on this law, Arab MK Haneen Zoabi said: “This is a kind of law to control our memory, to control our collec­ tive memory. It’s a very stupid law which punishes our feelings. It seems that the his­ tory of the victim is threatening the Zionist state.” See Jillian Kestler-D’Amours, “Israel criminalizes commemoration of the Nakba,” The Electronic Intifada, March 29, 2011, http://­ electronicintifada.net/content/israel-criminalizes-commemoration-nakba/9289. 14 In an article in Haaretz, Gerald Steinberg, president of the right-wing and pro-Zionist NGO Monitor writes: “All governments have interests and use power to pursue those goals.