^{Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the Gaza Strip, March 19, 2025. Credit: IDF.}

The Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism recommended last week barring five groups from entering the Jewish State due to their lawfare efforts against Israeli citizens.

The five groups are the Hind Rajab Foundation, Al-Haq Europe, Law for Palestine, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) and Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights.

“The organizations and individuals appearing in this document meet the conditions set forth in the Law for the Prevention of Entry,” the Diaspora Ministry said in a June 29 statement on its website.

The Diaspora Ministry highlighted one in particular relevant to its recommendation: “Posting statements in support of the prosecution of Israeli citizens abroad before international courts for their activities in the conduct of their roles in the IDF or in the security forces.”

The list (dated June 25), which also includes 50 individuals belonging to these groups, has been submitted to Israel’s Interior Ministry, which holds the authority to ban individuals from entering Israel.

The 50 activists on the list “operate under the guise of ‘humanitarian’ activity, but in practice promote and encourage the delegitimization of the State of Israel, its citizens and its institutions,” Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli told JNS.

“We will make sure they do not set foot in the State of Israel and cannot operate here in any way—just like many others who try to deny the existence of the Jewish state and challenge the morality of IDF soldiers,” he said.

The five groups engage, bring, or support cases against Israel in international courts, claiming Israel carries out “genocide” and other “war crimes.” They single out senior Israeli security establishment and political figures. Recently, regular Israeli soldiers have been targeted.

For example, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), a Belgium-based NGO, engages in legal persecution against Israeli soldiers.

Its modus operandi is to monitor the social networks of IDF soldiers, gathering information about their service and then launching a suit in the countries those soldiers visit, typically when they’re on holiday.

“To date, the fund has filed claims against at least 28 soldiers in eight different countries,” the Diaspora Ministry said.

HRF also filed a brief with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, accusing more than 1,000 IDF soldiers of “war crimes” they allegedly committed in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

For HRF, service in Gaza and Lebanon appears to be prima facie evidence of a war crime.

HRF lawsuits have been filed in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Holland, Ireland, Argentina and South Africa, among others.

In Brazil, an HRF case forced an IDF soldier to flee the country, cutting short his vacation. That case brought the new lawfare tactic to public attention in Israel, raising the specter of anyone who served being hauled before foreign courts on war crimes charges.

Demonization campaigns of ‘lawfare’ NGOs

Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based group that researches anti-Israel nonprofits, praised the ministry’s move as an important opening stage.

He told JNS that “this is another Israeli government step responding to the demonization campaigns of ‘lawfare’ NGOs.”

“Countering these threats also requires coordinated efforts against foreign governments and private funders that enable NGO hate and antisemitism under the human-rights facade,” Steinberg added.

Another group listed, DAWN, a U.S.-based tax-exempt organization, was exposed by NGO Monitor in April of last year for attempting to convince the U.S. State Department to impose sanctions on an IDF battalion.

In October 2022, DAWN submitted to the then-Biden administration State Department a Leahy Law referral against the Netzach Yehuda Battalion for alleged “systematic and widespread abuses.”

(The Leahy Law refers to two provisions prohibiting assistance by the United States to units of foreign forces implicated in the commission of human-rights violations.)

Israeli leaders reacted sharply to the reports, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Minister Without Portfolio Benny Gantz, both members of the War Cabinet at the time, criticizing any possible sanctions.

In the end, the Biden administration chose not to pursue sanctions against the IDF battalion.

Source: JNS