Nonprofit watchdog says NGO funding bills miss the point

Gerald Steinberg, the London-born president of watchdog group NGO Monitor, is opposed to European governments bankrolling Israeli left-wing groups, but maintains that the two bills proposed by Israeli lawmakers to curtail that are misguided.

Steinberg, who grew up in California, says that instead of outlawing foreign funding for NGOs, Israel should engage in an internal discussion and a debate with European countries about the influence foreign governments should have on another state's policies via donations to NGOs, he said.