With the steep rise of extremism within the Israeli political establishment, the Knesset has been increasingly legislating initiatives that aim at further stifling Palestinian civil society, especially the human rights community, in the areas where Israel assumes its sovereignty. This includes illegally occupied and annexed East Jerusalem.

In recent months, Israel has criminalized the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and forcibly shut its services in Jerusalem. In addition, it has put forth a number of other initiatives that reflect its fear of Palestinian, Israeli, and international human rights organizations. Indeed, as a result of its ongoing genocide in Gaza and campaigns of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, Israel has been less successful at blocking international justice mechanisms than it had been in the past.

The following sheds light on new and forthcoming Israeli bills and laws that target civil society in Jerusalem and beyond, especially the human rights sector.

In December 2024, the Israeli government enhanced its surveillance of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) working in Palestine, especially those involved in human rights and humanitarian operations,1 as they have been increasingly exposing and obstructing Israel’s settler-colonial agenda in Jerusalem, the rest of the West Bank, and Gaza. As early as 2014, NGO Monitor, a quasi-governmental Israeli organization that aims at criminalizing Palestinian, Israeli, and international civil society organizations that work on Palestine, called for defunding the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).2

The NRC works on a number of humanitarian and human rights operations, including strategic litigation before Israeli courts, in an attempt to improve the living conditions of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, especially in East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank. Palestinians in both these areas face creeping Israeli settler colonization and forcible displacement. NGO Monitor called NRC’s litigation “lawfare” and has unsuccessfully been lobbying European countries against it.

Similarly, NGO Monitor targeted many other INGOs including Diakonia, World Vision, Oxfam, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, all of which work in East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPT).3

In a wide-ranging crackdown on the operations of these INGOs, in March 2025, the Israeli government created an inter-ministerial committee that looks into the registration of the current INGOs working in the oPT, including East Jerusalem, forcing them to submit detailed information about their partners, their donors, their expenditure, beneficiaries, and so on.4 The new regulations allow the Israeli government to revoke the registration of registered INGOs, deny the registration of new ones, and deny visas for their workers based on vague and open-ended criteria. These include, among others, endorsing—as an organization or by individuals in its leadership—boycotting Israel, promotion of “delegitimization campaigns” against Israel, denial of Israel as “a Jewish and democratic state,” and collaboration with Israeli-designated terrorist organizations, which include a number of human rights and other civil society organizations.5 This list is not exhaustive, and the inter-ministerial committee can revoke the registration of INGOs based on their discretion using additional criteria.

This new regulation can potentially lead to further Israeli surveillance of organizations that provide humanitarian aid, support development programs, and defend human rights. In addition to limiting their operations, the legislation may obstruct these organizations’ work altogether, or even end their presence in East Jerusalem and the rest of the oPT.

In February 2025, the Knesset passed legislation that amends the Entry into Israel Law, 1952, which regulates all types of entry visas into the country, ranging from tourist visas to permanent residency. The new amendment (No. 40) prohibits granting entry permits or residency to Israel for noncitizens and nonpermanent residents “if they, or the organization or entity on whose behalf they act,” publicly call for boycotting Israel or pledge to take part in such a boycott; deny the Holocaust or the events of October 7, 2023; or call orally or in writing to prosecute Israelis in foreign or international courts as a result of their actions within the Israeli army or other security branches.6

Through this legislation, Israel aims to alienate internationals who express their support for the enforcement of international justice mechanisms on Israel and Israelis. The legislation also furthers the surveillance of international organizations, some of which have branches both in the oPT, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. Since the only entry to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is through Israel, this ban will prevent the entry of many employees and partners working with Palestinian and Israeli organizations on human rights mechanisms. The legislation also applies to international parliamentarians and other politicians who call for accountability measures. In effect, this leads to further isolating Palestinians from Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine.

In addition to the laws and procedures that have already been legislated, the Knesset has passed in the first reading bills that target a number of other civil and human rights activities. Though not yet passed into law, their implications are deeply concerning.

The first is a bill requiring Palestinian and Israeli NGOs registered within the Israeli system to pay an 80 percent tax for any international governmental funding they receive.7 Importantly, these NGOs do not receive any funding from the Israeli government. If enacted, this bill will effectively destroy a number of Palestinian and Israeli organizations that work on a range of objectives, most notably human rights. As a result of Israel’s illegal annexation of occupied East Jerusalem, this law will apply to all Palestinian NGOs working there, all of which do not get Israeli governmental funding. It will leave only quasi-governmental organizations that function under the Israeli agenda.

The NGOs that will be affected have a wide scope and are generally dependent on international funding. Their activities range from providing Palestinians with medical, legal, or educational services, to music, theater, and other cultural objectives. Some are youth organizations promoting sports and community education; others promote human rights with legal aid, documentation, and advocacy. Of course, a number of Israeli organizations will be heavily affected as well, both in occupied East Jerusalem and beyond.

Two other bills target human rights organizations and defenders specifically, as well as the International Criminal Court (ICC). The “Bill for the Protection of Israeli Public Officials from Actions of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, 2024” imposes sanctions on the ICC and “Israelis” who provide it with information.8 First, the bill declares that it is a duty for anyone contacted by the ICC to report to the Israeli government. Second, it makes providing information to the ICC a crime punishable by five years’ imprisonment and life imprisonment if this information was classified. It defines “transfer” of information as being by publication or through a third party. It also determines that individuals and organizations involved with such transfer of information may be denied some of the benefits to which they are entitled, such as tax deductions, government support, or grants.

Accordingly, civil society in Jerusalem is in grave danger. In an occupied territory where many of the actions of the occupying power amount to war crimes, including the construction of colonial settlements or the forcible displacement of Palestinians through status denial and revocation, home demolition, and more, this law means that individuals and organizations will be expected to witness these crimes in silence. It also means that Palestinian and Israeli organizations that supply the world with the data needed to understand the realities in Jerusalem will not be able to carry out their work. If the mere publication of research on Jerusalem becomes a criminal offense, academics and human rights defenders are in a serious bind.

Israeli legislators also introduced a bill that targets the mere documentation of human rights violations. The “Bill for the Struggle against Sanctions on the State of Israel, 5785–2025” prohibits transferring any information to any foreign entity if it can be used to call for sanctions against Israel, and determines a penalty of imprisonment between three to five years.9 It also prohibits transferring any information to foreign entities about Israelis who may be accused of international crimes. Worse still, the bill prohibits collecting information that may be used for international prosecutions. Needless to say, the documentation and publication of human rights violations, and seeking accountability based on these findings, is the core of the work of human rights organizations.

Combined with banning UNRWA’s operations in Jerusalem and severe restrictions on other UN agencies, already enacted Israeli laws and those in the pipeline pose a dire threat to Palestinian and Israeli civil society organizations in Jerusalem and beyond, especially those in the human rights and humanitarian sectors. While human rights defenders are the first to be targeted, the legislation also risks strangling any civil life beyond what Israel approves.