courts.310 Suppression of this type of political expression also extends to
legislation regulating domestic funding or legitimacy. Amendments to
the Israeli bills passed in 2010 and 2014 allow the reduction of funding
or denial of registration to any entity that does not recognize Israel as a
‘Jewish and democratic state’ or expresses feelings of mourning on Israel’s
Independence Day .311
This policy of funding restriction not only violates rights to expression and
assembly; it is also expressly denounced in international law. The Special
Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
stressed in his second thematic report for the Human Rights Council in 2013
that “funding restrictions that impede the ability of associations to pursue
their statutory activities constitute an interference with Article 22 (the right to
freedom of association),”312 and the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders
declares that they have the right to “solicit, receive and utilize resources for
the purpose of protecting human rights (including the receipt of funds from
abroad).”313
Obstruction of the Processes of International Law and Human Rights
Advocacy
Israeli policies of suppression also affect the functionality of international
monitoring and protection mechanisms that are in place to document
and denounce human rights violations and crimes committed against
Palestinians. The denial of entry to, and the restrictions of movement on
international and local human rights observers, among others, UN Special
Rapporteurs and members of the Independent Commission of Inquiry
on the 2014 Gaza Conflict, gravely impedes the ability to document and
report accurate information on the current situation in the oPt. The direct
consequences of these breaches rest solely on the shoulders of Palestinians
who continually face human rights violations by Israel that go unreported and
are therefore unable to access the international protection they are entitled
310 Adalah, “Bill on Foreign Funding of NGOs” – Bill on Income of Public Institutions Receiving Donations
from Foreign State Entity (Legislative Amendments), bill proposed in November 2011 and frozen
in December 2011. Available at: http://www.adalah.org/en/law/view/557, http://www.meezaan.
org/Public/file/draft%203%20-%20final.pdf; CIVICUS, Another Blow for Civil Society and Dissent in
Israel, 15 August 2013. Available at: http://www.civicus.org/index.php/media-resources/mediareleases/2448-another-blow-for-civil-society-and-dissent-in-israel; The Association for Civil Rights in
Israel, Anti-NGO Legislation in the Israeli Knesset, updated February 2016. Available at: http://www.
acri.org.il/en/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Anti-NGO-Bills-Overview-Updated-Febuary-2016.pdf
311 CCPRJ, The Coalition for Jerusalem and the Society of St. Yves Catholic Center for Human Rights, “DePalestinian” and Forcible Transfer of Palestinians, op. cit., 9 September 2014
312 UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kai, op. cit. (A/HRC/20/27), page 6
313 The Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by The General Assembly Resolution A/
RES/53/144, 8 March 1999
86
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