The New “Transparency Law” and the Operation of German Political Foundations in Israel

The conference held in Bochum, on which this volume is based, focused on the interaction of three ingredients. These were the almost universal recent phenomenon of the increasing role played by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in collective decision-making and in the actual conduct of civil societies; the unique structure and operation, especially in foreign countries, of German political foundations; and the recent Israeli legislation popularly termed the “transparency law” (official title: Law on Disclosure Requirements for Recipients of Support of a Foreign Political Entity (Amendment) (Increased Transparency of Those Primarily Financed by Donations from Foreign Political Entities), 5776-2016). This is of special interest in Germany due to the operation of its political foundations in Israel and their interrelationship with various Israeli NGOs. In order to analyse and evaluate this recent law–the prime task in this piece–a short background to set the context is useful.