Foreign donations account for a quarter of the funding of candidates in party primary elections. Candidates' reports to the State Comptroller show that 48 candidates received a total of NIS 5,349,451 in foreign donations, 23% of total funding of all candidates.
Foreign donations account for over half of the funding of 13 candidates, including Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Zeev Elkin, Deputy Minister of Defense Danny Danon, Knesset House Committee chairman MK Tzahi Hanegbi, Deputy Minister of Transport Tzipi Hotovely, Minister of Defense Moshe Ya'alon, Minister of the Interior Gideon Sa'ar, MK Moshe Feiglin, Knesset Labor, Health, and Welfare Committee chairman Haim Katz, (all from Likud-Yisrael Beitenu), and MK Nachman Shai (Labor).
12 of the 48 candidates received NIS 50,000-150,000 in foreign donations, and 15 candidates received more than NIS 150,000.
Most of the large foreign donations came from the US, Canada, Ukraine, and Russia. For example, former minister Avi Dichter, who failed to secure a realistic place on the Likud party list in the last elections, received NIS 367,000, including NIS 87,000 from Canadian donors, and NIS 91,000 from American donors. Sa'ar received NIS 476,000, including NIS 220,000 from American donors and NIS 49,000 from Spanish donors. Minister of Communications Gilad Erdan received NIS 491,000, including NIS 130,000 from American donors. Minister of Strategic Affairs Yuval Steinitz received NIS 423,000, including NIS 209,000 from American donors. Minister of Culture and Sport Limor Livnat received NIS 479,000, including NIS 217,000 from American donors. Elkin received NIS 494,000, including NIS 137,000 from American donors, NIS 88,000 from Ukrainian donors, and NIS 75,000 from Russian donors. Haim Katz received NIS 191,000, including NIS 76,000 from Russian donors, and NIS 72,000 from Ukrainian donors. Minister Energy and Water Resources Silvan Shalom received NIS 488,000, including NIS 37,00 from Ukrainian donors, and NIS 77,000 from Russian donors.
"Undermining democracy"
State Comptroller Joseph Shapira is worried about the foreign donations and believes that candidates should be banned from receiving them in the same way that the Parties Financing Law bans political parties from receiving foreign donations. "Raising donations overseas means obtaining support from external sources, which often have no affiliation or connection to the State of Israel, but which exploit their right to donate to be involved in setting the public agenda in Israel. The issue of donations is a sensitive and complicated matter, given the possible influences on the composition of the Knesset and the interests and policies that will be advanced in it because of the dependence between capital and government," he says.
Shapira warns, "A donation to a candidate creates an affiliation between the candidate and the donor. This affiliation is liable to distort the candidate's calculations so that the interests that the donor wants to advance are on the candidate's mind when he participates in legislative processes and in setting policy on various matters during his term, should he be elected to the Knesset, and especially if he is appointed as a cabinet minister.
"Even if the candidate believes that he can neutralize this affiliation, there is still concern about the appearance that he acts out of extraneous and improper considerations, because of this donation. For this reason, and to prevent any possibility of this improper and regrettable influence on appearances, the legislature should also restrict the amount of donations from a single donor to just NIS 11,100."
Shapira says that this is even more serious in the case of foreign donations. "Fundraising outside Israel means obtaining the support of external sources which often have no affiliation or connection to the State of Israel, but which seek through their right to donate to be involved in setting the public agenda in Israel. I believe that in terms of values, such influence should not be allowed, since it undermines the foundations of democracy and governance in Israel."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 21, 2013
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