The Knesset passed legislation on July 11 that requires all nongovernmental organizations (ngos) receiving more than half of their funding from foreign state entities to publicly report that support. The special reporting mandated by the law also requires the organizations to state that the website of Israel’s registrar of nonprofit associations has a list of the ngo’s donor nations.

According to the Justice Ministry, 27 organizations receive most of their funding from foreign countries. Of those ngos, 25 are left-wing advocacy groups.

Critics of the legislation say it targets human rights groups critical of the Israeli government’s domestic policies. Anat Ben Nun of the Israeli human rights group Peace Now told Al Jazeera: “The idea behind the bill is not transparency, which already exists, but rather, public shaming of left-wing ngos and the attempt to present them as foreign agents.”

Contrarily, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the legislation will “prevent an absurd situation in which foreign countries meddle in the internal affairs of Israel by funding ngos and without the Israeli public’s knowledge.” Netanyahu added, “Contrary to claims on the left, the bill’s approval will increase transparency, will encourage the creation of a debate which truly reflects public opinion in Israel, and will strengthen democracy.”

Incidentally, “the law was passed a day before a bipartisan [United States] Senate report found that the V15 campaign to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2015 was indirectly funded by U.S. State Department dollars,” wrote Times of Israel. “Likud minister Zeev Elkin said Tuesday that the Senate’s findings were proof ‘of how correct the laws of transparency in foreign state funding of ngos is.’” (The Senate report also revealed that a State Department official deleted e-mails relating to the campaign despite requirements to archive them.)

The U.S. has expressed its concern about this legislation—especially its earlier versions. “Although some of the issues that bothered us were changed in the final version of the law,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday, “we still are opposed to the possible effects of this legislation.” Kirby said that his department is “deeply concerned that this law can have a chilling effect on the activities that these worthwhile organizations are trying to do.”

Europe too has expressed its concerns. Most of the ngo funding in Israel comes from European nations such as Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

“The reporting requirements imposed by the new law go beyond the legitimate need for transparency and seem aimed at constraining the activities of these civil society organizations working in Israel,” read a statement from the European Union.

The German government commented that it was “concerned about the legislation’s one-sided focus on financial support from governmental donations,” and it was “also concerned about the domestic political climate in Israel in which this law came to being, and about the increasingly polarized debate about the work of nongovernmental organizations in Israel.”

In “The Real Threat to Israeli Democracy,” Commentary’s Jonathan Tobin wrote:

[T]he effort expended on debating the bill seems like a tremendous waste of time for both sides. But it would be wrong to merely dismiss the topic as much ado about nothing. The issue isn’t a meaningless bill but how one feels about foreign-funded left-wing groups that work to oppose Israel’s presence in Jerusalem and the West Bank as well as to buttress Palestinian claims of ill treatment at the hand of the Jewish state. The issue here is democracy but not the right-wing conspiracy to suppress dissent alleged by the left. Rather, it is an understandable backlash from the center-right majority about the efforts of the Israeli left to leverage foreign backing in order to make up for the fact that it has been marginalized at home.

The main takeaway from this controversy is this: Israel’s ngo bill—whatever the opinions about its legality or fairness—reveals an administration that’s still willing to compromise on some issues, but at the same time, equally willing to defy global opinions in order to expose its enemies, both local and foreign, in order to safeguard its security.

The legislation is a reminder that the current administration in Israel is not getting much support from Europe—or even the United States, its traditional brother and ally. In fact, a significant amount of support from both the EU and the U.S. is going toward anti-settlement, pro-Palestinian organizations. It shows the amount of clout foreign nations have built, and could continue to build, in Israel, either directly or indirectly.

The bill, and the outcry over it, is also indicative of the political pressures that Israel will face in the future. It also hints at the identity of the foreign brokers who will want to present solutions to Israel’s troubles.

The Bible, particularly Hosea 5:13, describes a scenario where the Jewish nation of Israel (called Judah) appears heavily reliant on foreign governmental organizations—not just the ngos they may be supporting. Our free booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy explains this future in greater detail.