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Israel presents: Dreaming around Amnesty Israel today

2022-08-11T03:20:38.361Z


The Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a harsh report on the Amnesty organization, and even called it "one of the organizations most hostile to Israel" • However, the organization still receives tax benefits in accordance with Article 46 which makes it easier for it to raise funds • The Tax Authority: "The issue is not our responsibility"


While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes a harsh report on the Amnesty organization, calling it "an enemy of Israel alongside Iran and Hezbollah", the state continues to give the organization a significant tax benefit, and the various parties shift the responsibility for the absurd situation from one to the other.

CEO of the organization. Callamard,

At the beginning of the week, a report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Amnesty was published, which reviews the activities of the organization and calls it "a engine of blaming Israel for being an apartheid state".

The ministry's spokesman, Emmanuel Nachshon, even stated that "Amnesty is proving to be one of the most hostile organizations to Israel in the world, a real enemy. In recent years, this organization has become the spearhead of Israel's enemies, along with Iran, Hezbollah and other haters of Israel."

However, it is a long time that Amnesty continues to benefit from Article 46 - a benefit for non-profit organizations, which makes it easier for them to raise funds through a tax exemption for their donors.

Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman promised back in February to deny the benefit to the organization, but this has not happened to date. 

"Israel Hayom" contacted the Ministry of Finance, where they referred us to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee headed by MK Gilad Karib, claiming that for months the committee has been denouncing the promotion of the Boycott Law regulations, the approval of which is essential to the denial of the Amnesty benefit.

We contacted Karib, who claimed that the benefit in question - Section 46 of the Income Tax Ordinance - "is not at all related to the Constitution Committee or the regulations of the Boycott Law", and around him we were referred back to the Ministry of Finance.

Two opposing bodies

The person involved in the legislative process in the committee claimed that the boycott law does not refer to Amnesty, but only to organizations that explicitly call for a boycott of Israel, while Amnesty does not meet this criterion because it focuses on promoting the narrative according to which Israel is an apartheid state, but not on direct activity to spread the boycott against it.

It is also claimed that the Tax Authority, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Finance, is the body that should contact the Finance Committee - and not the Constitution Committee - with a request to revoke Article 46 from Amnesty. At this stage, we turned to the Tax Authority, where we were told that "the issue is not our responsibility, you should contact the Ministry of Finance".

We returned to the office of the Minister of Finance and presented the matter to them, and in response we received an opinion from the legal counsel of the ministry, which puts the responsibility back on the Constitution Committee, and recommends to the Minister not to deprive Amnesty of the tax benefit before the boycott law is approved by the committee.

We were also told that if another way is found to deny the amnesty benefit - the Minister of Finance will promote the move.

We returned to Kriv, but at this stage we no longer had time to get his response to things.

Without pointing out a single factor that is to blame for the situation, the bottom line is clear: due to a tangle of bureaucratic, legal and possibly even political considerations, one arm of the state continues to grant Amnesty a significant tax benefit that makes it easier for it to raise money, while another arm clearly states that the organization is an "enemy of the state" that operates maliciously against her.

Shai Glick, CEO of the Betzlomo organization, said: "One hand says that this is an organization that runs a campaign of hatred and lies against Israel, and the other hand gives it benefits worth hundreds of thousands of shekels every year.

I call on Lieberman to order the denial of funding from Amnesty immediately."

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Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2022-08-11

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