Move comes day after body's legal adviser says the inquiries raise questions at the heart of democratic rule.
The Knesset's House Committee approved two parliamentary inquiries into leftist non-governmental organizations on Wednesday.
One committee, headed by MK Danny Danon, would examine “the involvement of foreign bodies and states in funding activities against the state and attempting to acquire its land.” The second, headed by Fania Kirschenbaum, would probe “overseas funds and states funding Israeli organizations that participate in the delegitimization of IDF soldiers.”
The move came one day after Knesset Legal Adviser Eyal Inon told the House Committee that the establishment of the probes “is a precedent that raises basic questions that stand at the heart of democratic rule."
Inon did say, however, that there was “no basis to claim that the establishment of the probes was illegitimate on the basis of narrow interpretations of legality or the Knesset’s authority to do so.”
The legal adviser went on to say that the two committees of inquiry “target one side of the ideological spectrum that happens to be in the opposition now,” and that, in doing so, threatened principles regarding the freedom of expression and freedom to protest.
Ron Friedman and Dan Izenberg contributed to this report.
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