Abstract
The governance of civil society in Israel and Turkey offers systems that are similar in some aspects yet substantially different in others. Notwithstanding, in both countries the space granted to civil society organizations, especially those that promote liberal values and challenge state policies, is increasingly constrained by the governing parties and ideologies of the last decade. Consequently, the ability of these groups to articulate independent views and advocate them in the public sphere in Israel and Turkey has been drastically curtailed over the last few years. We begin this chapter with an overview of civil society regulation and development in Israel and Turkey over the years. Later, we investigate in more detail the experiences of four civil society organizations (CSO), namely the New Israel Fund (NIF) and Breaking the Silence (BTS) (Shovrim Shtika) in Israel and the Capitol Women (Baskent Kadin) Group and the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity for the Oppressed (Mazlumder) in Turkey.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Simone Chambers and Jeffrey Kopstein, “Bad Civil Society”, Political Theory, Vol. 29, No. 6, 2001, pp. 837–865.
- 2.
- 3.
TUSEV, “Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development: Turkey Country Report”, 2017, available at http://www.tusev.org.tr/usrfiles/images/MM2016TurkeyReport.pdf.
- 4.
Yael Yishai, “Civil Society in Transition: Interest Politics in Israel”, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 555, 1998, pp. 147–162.
- 5.
Yael Yishai, “The Guardian State: A Comparative Analysis of Interest Group Regulation”, Governance, Vol. 11, No. 2, April 1998, pp. 153–176, at p. 161.
- 6.
The Associations Registrar Page at the Israel Ministry of Justice website. Retrieved March 25, 2018 from http://www.justice.gov.il/Units/RasutHataagidim/units/RashamAmutot/Pages/About.aspx.
- 7.
Yeni Safak newspaper, interview on May 9, 2005.
- 8.
- 9.
August 26, 2017, http://www.baskentkadin.org/tr/?p=1012.
- 10.
- 11.
http://t24.com.tr/haber/mazlumderin-16-subesi-kapatildi,394615, March 19, 2017.
- 12.
Author’s interviews with a Mazlumder former member, April 23, 2018.
- 13.
Reha Ruhavioglu, Hak İnisiyatifi Dernekleşti, Sivil Sayfalar, May 11, 2018.
- 14.
Amal Jamal, The Rise of “Bad Civil Society” in Israel: Nationalist Civil Society Organizations and the Politics of Delegitimization, SWP Comments, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, January 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018 from https://www.swp-berlin.org/fileadmin/contents/products/comments/2018C02_jamal.pdf.
- 15.
https://www.ngo-monitor.org/. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- 16.
https://imti.org.il/en/. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- 17.
http://www.regavim.org/. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- 18.
http://izs.org.il/. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- 19.
http://www.haforum.org/. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- 20.
http://www.myisrael.org.il/. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- 21.
- 22.
- 23.
- 24.
- 25.
- 26.
Hagai Hacohen, “Netanyahu’s Son Sparks Outrage After Posting Antisemitic-Themed Meme,” The Jerusalem Post, September 9, 2017. Retrieved March 31, 2018 from http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Netanyahus-son-lashes-out-via-internet-again-504620.
- 27.
https://www.btselem.org/about_btselem. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- 28.
http://www.yesh-gvul.org.il/english. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- 29.
http://www.sikkuy.org.il/en/about/. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- 30.
https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/7189. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- 31.
http://cfpeace.org/about-us/our-vision/. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- 32.
https://www.nif.org/about/. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
- 33.
http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
- 34.
NIF Annual Report 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2018 from http://nif.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/NIF-2015AR-FINAL-1.pdf.
- 35.
United Nations Human Rights Council, “Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict”, September 25, 2009. Retrieved April 8, 2018 from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf. It is important to note that Goldstone reversed some of the claims made in the report. See Richard Goldstone, “Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israel and War Crimes”, The Washington Post, April 11, 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2018 from http://www.nuhanovicfoundation.org/user/file/reconsidering_the_goldstone_report_on_israel_and_war_crimes_-_the_washington_post.pdf.
- 36.
The Influence of New Israel Fund Organizations on the Goldstone Report. Retrieved April 8, 2018 from https://imti.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/NIFGoldstone.pdf.
- 37.
Special Issue: False Allegations Against NIF and Human Rights Organizations. ACRI Webpage, February 1, 2010. Retrieved April 8, 2018 from http://acri.org.il/newsletter/Hnewsletter0210a.html.
- 38.
Shalom Yerushalmi, “Naomi Chazan: I Became a Target for Right Wing Organizations”, NRG, February 12, 2010. Retreived April 9, 2018 from https://www.makorrishon.co.il/nrg/online/1/ART2/056/497.html.
- 39.
- 40.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Netanyahu/posts/10155542657127076.
- 41.
- 42.
T. Katriel and N. Shavit, “Between Moral Activism and Archival Memory: The Testimonial Project of ‘Breaking the Silence’”, eds. M. Neiger, O. Meyers and E. Zandberg, On Media Memory (Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies) (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
- 43.
Sara Helman, “Challenging the Israeli Occupation Through Testimony and Confession: The Case of Anti-denial SMOs Machsom Watch and Breaking the Silence”, International Journal of Politics Culture and Society, 28, No. 4, 2015, pp. 377–394.
- 44.
Or Kashti, 2016, “Israeli University Nixes Decision to Grant Prize to Breaking the Silence”, Haaretz, June 26. Retrieved May 4, 2018 from https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-university-nixes-decision-to-award-breaking-the-silence-1.5401732.
- 45.
Yuli Novak, “The Making of an Israeli Dissident”, Haaretz, January 18, 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2018 from https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-the-making-of-an-israeli-dissident-1.5746511.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tepe, S., Rubin, A. (2019). The Shrinking Space of the Third Sector in Israel and Turkey. In: Sever, A., Almog, O. (eds) Contemporary Israeli–Turkish Relations in Comparative Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05786-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05786-2_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-05785-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-05786-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)