Israel's Defense Ministry is demanding that lawyers representing six Palestinian NGOs designated as terror groups and outlawed earlier this year receive official permission from the finance and defense ministers to represent the organizations, or face a prison sentence of up to seven years.
The new requirement comes just two days ahead of a hearing on the legality of the decision to outlaw the organizations. Michael Sfard, the attorney representing Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, said it was "extremely difficult to avoid interpreting it [the demand] as a government threat made against a lawyer engaging in entirely legal work."
The Ministry sent the attorneys a letter under the subject line "receiving funds from a recognized terror organization" in which it referred to a clause in the counter-terrorism law that stipulates permission must be granted in order to legally receive payment from a "terror organization." The attorneys said it was the first time they have received such a demand, even though they have represented other organizations declared terror groups in the past.
The Defense Ministry's legal advisor, who sent the letter, is also representing the defense system in proceedings currently taking place in regard to the legality of the organizations' designation as "terror organizations".
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