International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy

NGOs helping migrants: an Israeli case study of counterculture

Yaffa Moskovich Adi Binhas
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Yaffa Moskovich Adi Binhas , (2015),"NGOs helping migrants: an Israeli case study of
counterculture", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 35 Iss 9/10 pp. 635 - 648
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NGOs helping migrants: an Israeli NGOs helping

migrants
case study of counterculture
Yaffa Moskovich
Department of Behavioral Science, Zefat Academic College, Zefat, Israel, and 635
Adi Binhas
Bet Berl College, Tzur Moshe, Israel

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the NGOs in the immigration field as a counterculture
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working simultaneously with and against the establishment.

Design/methodology/approach – Case study approach using interviews and documents analysis.
Findings – This paper studies the cultural features of three civil associations, interested in promoting
social welfare for immigrants. These NGOs challenge the Israeli government when it violates human
rights. This conflict takes place in the courts, the Knesset (parliament), governmental agencies, the
media, and sometimes in the streets. The three NGOs use a variety of political strategies: both
collaborating with governmental agencies, while simultaneously fighting against the government
authorities. The cultural features of the immigrant NGOs are primarily left-wing, with socialist
principles. The organizational culture of this association can be identified as a counterculture, opposing
the dominant Israeli right-wing capitalist culture.
Practical implications – This research can demonstrate how NGOs can use tactics to achieve a high
level of success for the underprivileged population.
Originality/value – This case study is unusual in that it suggests the NGOs are a sophisticated
counterculture, with activists knowing how to operate concurrently with and against official
authorities. The duality of the political cultural behavior of the NGOs’ social movement is a notable
phenomenon of counterculture in the political arena and expands the definition of counterculture.
Keywords Migrant workers, Cultural sociology
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
This paper examines the cultural features of three NGOs in the immigration field.
The NGOs researched in this study are: A NGO, B NGO, C NGO[1]. These NGOs strive
to promote social welfare for immigrants. The study focusses on the goals and political
strategies of those NGOs: both collaborating with governmental agencies while
also fighting against the government authorities, even while being funded by them.
Short background on the researched NGOs:
The A NGO is a non-profit organization that, since its inception in 1991, has strived
to protect the rights of workers in Israel. Its goal is to have the State of Israel comply
fully and faithfully with international conventions, as well as local law, concerning all
workers. In particular, the A NGO strives to ensure social and economic rights and
legal residence status for refugees and asylum seekers in Israel, so that they can enjoy
personal independence and dignity. The organization helps Israeli workers, migrant
workers, Palestinians, and refugees to achieve their rights as workers[2].
Since its inception in 1972, the B NGO has worked to “ensure Israel’s accountability
International Journal of Sociology
and respect for human rights, by addressing violations committed by the Israeli and Social Policy
authorities in Israel, the Occupied Territories, or elsewhere” (from the organization’s Vol. 35 No. 9/10, 2015
pp. 635-648
web site). The organization deals with the full range of human rights: freedom of © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0144-333X
speech, the right to health care, protection of human rights in the occupied territories, DOI 10.1108/IJSSP-11-2014-0109
 IJSSP freedom of worship, the right to full civil equality, protection of internet privacy, and
35,9/10 more. Its vision is to help people maintain their rights in any country, at any time,
where civil initiative is needed; from releasing people from the effects of harmful
authority to uncompromisingly preserving human rights[3].
The C NGO is a non-profit and non-partisan organization. It was founded in 1998 as
a grass roots response to a series of articles published in the Tel Aviv weekly, The City,
636 dealing with the exploitation of migrant workers. The organization aims to protect and
promote the rights of migrant workers, refugees, and other foreigners residing in the
Jewish state. In particular, it also attempts to combat human trafficking in Israel[4].
Two research questions present themselves when examining these Israeli NGOs:
what are the defining cultural features of the researched NGOs in Israeli society? Given
these features, are these NGOs a counterculture phenomenon?
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Dominant Israeli culture

National Israeli culture has evolved from the early kibbutz values of pioneering and
egalitarianism, which were the basis of the new country. The kibbutz settlements
contributed greatly to the political, economic, and military creation of the new nation –
disproportionately to their number within the Jewish population (less than 5 percent at
national independence in 1948). Before, and immediately after, independence in 1948,
their sense of obligation to Israeli society was very strong, based on their
patriotic values. The focus was on the future. As in other revolutionary societies,
the belief was that sacrifice in the present would lead to a better society in the future
(Ya’ar and Shavit, 2001).
Faced with the necessities of running a nation, Israelis downplayed the initial
revolutionary ideologies and the kibbutzim moved increasingly further away from the
center of political power. National economic growth featured competition, rather than
cooperation, thus decreasing the impact of socialist thinking in economic policy making.
Based on this competition, Israeli society has become more capitalistic and
materialistic; embracing consumerism, adopting more individualistic values,
and striving for achievement-oriented goals (Almog, 2004; Moskovich and Achouch,
2013). This new cultural environment, termed “post-Zionism,” contains features such as
escapism, hedonism, and rebellion against once-inviolable myths. It would appear the
new generation seeks only pleasure and the good life (Almog, 2004; Ram, 1999).
External forces of globalization have reinforced this internal trend toward
individualism and materialism (Moskovich and Achouch, 2013). Since the late 1960s,
Israeli society has been exposed to American television shows and other media, which
market the American hedonistic lifestyle, teaching the public that happiness is
achieved by conspicuous consumption (Almog, 2004; Ram, 1999).
At the same time, national political culture has moved toward the right, dominated
by neo-liberal governments (Moskovich, 2004). The policy of the Likud party in Israel
has initiated massive privatization of national assets, decreased social services, and has
led to wider gaps between socio-economic classes (Ram, 1999). The growth of Israeli
capitalism has also created a demand for tens of thousands of foreign workers in
the services, construction, and agriculture. In addition, over sixty thousand economic
and political refugees from Africa, mainly Eritrea and Sudan, have recently entered
Israel illegally, seeking a better life.
Analysis of subsequent governmental policy regarding immigration reveals
embarrassing failures in policymaking and implementation. Although the phenomenon
of foreign migration has been growing, the country has not weighed the long-term
 implications of hiring massive numbers of migrants, nor has it considered the need to NGOs helping
protect their rights as workers (Natan, 2009; Semyonov and Lerental, 2005). migrants
Literature framework: dominant culture, subcultures, and
countercultures
Culture expresses itself in various ways, creating bonds between people and instilling
collective consciousness and specific understanding, as well as expressing common group 637
identity and reality (Geertz, 1990). The neo-Marxist analysis sees culture as an arena of
struggle and conflict. This paper used a neo-Marxist cultural model of analysis.
Marx saw culture as an ideological system, that wishes to twist the truth and social
structure to mold false consciousness of reality and express the economic interest of the
political rulers in society (Regev, 2011). Neo-Marxist cultural study is divided into two
schools of thought: the first sees culture as the depressive power in a capitalistic
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regime, because of its weakness in creating autonomous and alternative culture.

The other direction in Neo-Marxism highlights culture as a field of struggle between
the dominant culture and counterculture as apposing groups. The first attitude is
expressed by Adorno (Horkheimer and Adorno, 2002) and Althusser, who used the
term of ideological state apparatus (Althusser, 2003). The culture is transmitted
through media, art, education, religion, and family. In these institutions the individual
learns and internalizes the reality through the rulers’ ideas. The rulers shape the people
using capitalistic values of individualism, achievement, and consumption, and prevent
them thinking in alternative ways.
The dominant culture is an ideological state apparatus, which serves the needs
of the upper classes. The dominant ideology of capitalist culture educates the masses to
experience the world through the values of individualism, competition, achievement,
and consumption (Althusser, 2003). Capitalism creates a fake industry of culture: a
deception of the masses in the name of art and esthetics, which is actually a means
of control over the masses in a capitalist world (Horkheimer and Adorno, 2002).
This attitude is also reflected in Bourdieu’s (1993) work. According to this analysis,
in capitalistic society the upper classes design “cultural capital” and use it to dominate
society (Bourdieu, 1993). The capitalist culture is transferred to every aspect of life
and becomes the obvious world that every citizen unquestionably knows, understands,
and accepts. Bourdieu’s (1993) criticism of the ruling system describes the depressing
mechanism of power, by preventing growth of opposing groups and counterculture as
a resistance to dominant culture.
The second, more flexible, approach used by Gramsci (2004), is termed hegemony.
This term embodies the role of the dominant culture of a society, with its ideology and
control (Gramsci, 2004). Nevertheless, most societies are complex and include
distinctive subcultures that are different to, and to some extent opposed to, the
dominant culture. Capitalist society is a battlefield, a struggle between cultures, in
which the dominant culture assimilates hostile elements of subcultures, thus
neutralizing their criticism. However, subcultures can resist the hegemony of the
dominant culture by providing innovative perceptions of reality and alternative
perceptions that lead to criticism of elements of the dominant culture (William, 1999).
William (1999) coined the terms “residual culture” and “emerged culture.” He
distinguished between residual culture – that is an old culture, such as religion, that has
continued its existence even in the modern world and is conservative and loyal to
the current system. Emergent culture, in contrast, expresses innovation, and changes in
population and technology that can create opposition to, and criticism of, dominant
 IJSSP culture. This resistance to the hegemonic culture distinguishes a counterculture from
35,9/10 merely a subculture.
There have been numerous countercultures. While it is not possible to describe them
all, it is important to note the most significant ones.
The feminist movement considers counterculture as subversive activity and
identifies it as “otherness,” distinct from dominant ideology and hegemonic culture
638 (Regev, 2011). One important element of feminist counterculture is feminist artistic
work, usually absent in the masculine world (Wolff, 1990). Wolff claimed that feminine
art, which expresses the uniqueness of the female, is missing. Literary works also
tend to exclude real women, presenting females who exist in the shadow of males.
Women are considered “the other,” but not as themselves (Fridman, 1996).
Black culture and black identity make up another counterculture that had been
missing and excluded from the public discourse up until the 1960s Civil Rights
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Movement in the USA (Gilroy, 1987). This counterculture had been very rebellious and
subversive; it continues to oppose the dominant cultures in North America and Europe.
There are examples of youth countercultures, manifested particularly in music, which
have flourished throughout the world. Since the 1950s, Britain experienced consecutive
waves of counterculture, expressed in distinct forms of music, fashion, and consumption.
Whenever one counterculture group vanished, another group took its place, presenting
resistance to the hegemonic culture (Hebdige, 2008). For example, the 1970s British punk
counterculture expressed itself in radically anti-establishment music, accompanied by a
fashion of provocative and garish items. The punk appearance was considered ugly and
hostile to esthetic social norms, projecting nihilism and anarchism. In Cuba, the Afro-Cuban
hip-hop movement expressed the struggle for social equality, linking it to a larger history of
African activism in that country (Saunders, 2012). In Germany and Britain, right-wing
extremist rock music (the so-called Nazi rock) is underground counterculture music, which
emerged at the end of the 1970s. This music conveys the right-wing extremist ideas that led
to racist and anti-immigrant violence in Germany and Britain (Brown, 2004).
Numerous antiwar countercultures have appeared in the political arena worldwide.
In the USA and Europe, the hippy counterculture of the mid-1960s stressed its antiwar
character. Besides opposing the war then being fought in Vietnam, the hippies wanted to
be close to nature, rejecting industry, urbanization, materialism, and modernization.
The typical (or perhaps stereotypical) hippy experimented with Native American and
Indian religions, and wore multi-colored clothing and flowers. They rejected the need
to work and believed in free love and the use of mind-altering drugs (Willis, 1978).
Another antiwar movement in the USA began as a student protest against the Vietnam
War. This counterculture movement was active in campuses across the country and was
much more structured and effective than the hippy movement. The narrower focus on
the Vietnam War in the 1960s and later on “dumping Nixon” in the early 1970s enabled the
student activists to create an effective coalition with other sectors of the population to
support their actions (Brown and Brown, 2004). This antiwar coalition included a variety
of groups: soldiers, veterans, students, and intellectuals (Chatfield, 2004). A new iteration of
the antiwar counterculture coalesced to oppose the second American war in Iraq, and
President George W. Bush who initiated it, in 2003. The public originally saw this antiwar
movement as part of the radical New Left – a movement espousing extreme ideas –
rejected, and even hated, by most Americans (Churchill, 2008). As the antiwar
coalition grew, it shed its New Left roots and became a mainstream political phenomenon.
Most NGOs can be identified as subcultures in civil society, since they network with the
governmental authorities.
 NGOs and their relationship with civil society and governmental NGOs helping
authorities migrants
NGOs (non-governmental organizations) or CSOs (civil society organizations) have
become important actors in public arena (Steinberg, 2011). Diplomats, journalists,
academics, and other decision makers and opinion leaders routinely accept NGO claims,
usually without independent verification. NGOs, both individually and through the wider
networks framework, influence many fields, from environmental issues to human rights 639
and humanitarian aid. Their moral claims are a major source of this influence, as reflected
in Chandler’s (2004) reference to NGOs as motivated by universal beliefs. Governments
are violating human rights, leaving individuals or minorities without recourses or
political power to fight for their rights. At this point the NGOs enter the arena, apply
pressure on governments and are highly influential. The NGOs attempt to enhance a
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more justified ideology, which criticizes Western imperialism and capitalism. Their
ideology is reflected in their publications and analyses, particularly regarding application
of international law and human rights claims. NGOs exert much political power,
particularly regarding moral and legal issues. They wish to monitor and report
government behavior regarding human rights by creating public pressure. This
influence is based on the application of “soft power” – achieving public goals by being
appealing rather than through coercion or payments (Nye, 2004). NGOs promote their
agenda using network organizations, internet, and advanced information technologies.
NGOs networks with members and organizations attract media and government
attention on their issues (Grant and Keohane, 2005). Although NGOs identified with left-
wing ideology, they can defined as subcultures, most of them are working with network
relations with the establishment (Steinberg, 2011).
This literature raises two research questions that present themselves when examining
these Israeli NGOs: what are the defining cultural features of the researched NGOs in
Israeli society? Given these features, are these NGOs a counterculture phenomenon?

Method
Three NGOs were examined: the A NGO (A), the B NGO (B), and the C NGO (C). Qualitative
methodology of case study approach with document analysis and interviews were used.
The data were dealt with on two levels: the first was analyzing the data gathered in the
field and the second was its interpretation by the researchers. The final step involved
relating the interpretations to existing theories, or modifying the theories (Yim, 2014).
The following documents were analyzed: publications by B NGO, material from
organization web sites, petitions to the High Court, and articles about immigration
policy in Israel. In addition, there were 30 total interviews: with 15 paid staff workers
and ten volunteers, each lasting about an hour. To complete the information we
interviewed another three senior workers and two managers of the NGOs, lasting about
two hours (Table I).

Category of interviewees Number of interviewees Interview length (hours)

Paid staff workers 15 1

Volunteers 10 1
Senior workers 3 2 Table I.
Managers 2 2 The interviewees
 IJSSP Some interviews were ethnographic, and some were supplemented with semi-structured
35,9/10 questionnaires ( Janesick, 2000).
Interviews were conducted with key public officials (the spokesperson and the legal
advisor of the Immigration and Population Authority of the Ministry of the Interior)
as well as heads of the NGOs, many of whom had established the organizations.
This included the original general manager of the A NGO, the current general manager,
640 and its lawyer. The following participants were interviewed at B NGO: the present
general manager, the lawyer, the previous A NGO manager (from 2004 to 2013), the
manager for government relations, and the manager responsible for combating human
trafficking. Another key interviewee at B NGO was the lawyer, who had worked there
for over ten years. His expertise is dealing with the Foreign Relations Committee of
the Israeli Parliament and with the Ministry of the Interior. He also handles petitions to
the High Court. Many of these interviews produced informal information, not available
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in protocols or on the organizations’ web sites, which facilitated the analysis of the
cultural and behavioral features in the associations studied.
The interviews and documents were analyzed using the topic-analysis method
(Wadham and Warren, 2014; Yim, 2014), which is based on organizing, sorting, and
arranging the data into meaningful categories. Categorizing the data allowed its
interpretation and the building of a narrative about the cultural features of the
researched NGOs. As a gradual process of abstraction, the preliminary analysis also
made it possible to link the narrative to theories of counterculture. This linkage
occurred in the last stage of the process.
The choice of these three pro-immigrant NGO’s was deliberate in order to examine a
wide spectrum of activities. The C NGO specializes in helping foreign migrants. The A
focusses on workers (impoverished Israeli workers, Palestinian workers, and foreign
workers). The B NGO assists weaker sectors of society (women, poor people, immigrants,
handicapped people, and minorities) that face a variety of human rights violations in
housing, health care, and welfare. While each organization has a different focus, their
work overlaps. One of the objectives was to learn about the world view of the members of
each NGO and to what extent their socio-political view of society overlaps. Thus, it was
interesting and relevant to examine each NGO separately to understand their strategic
decision to collaborate and complement each other’s endeavors.

Findings
The cultural features of these NGOs can be defined by their public strategies.
The NGOs studied utilize various strategies to accomplish its social goals: appealing to
the Supreme Court, providing consultation and legal assistance to workers, pressuring
governmental bodies, activating mass media, challenging exploitative employers, and
collaborating with other NGOs and governmental authorities.

Political strategies of the three NGOs dealing with immigration in Israel

Legal aid. A NGO refers workers to legal representatives, or uses available legal tools
such as petitions to the High Court. C NGO offers paralegal assistance for those facing
expulsion, and works with prisons and various local authorities (the Ministry of
Interior, the Ministry of Social Welfare, the Census Bureau, and others). B NGO, as
noted, does not represent individuals but rather deals with fundamental issues and
therefore does not give individual assistance (from the organizations’ web sites).
The three organizations appeal to the High Court, often in conjunction, to facilitate
the enforcement of state laws, and take legal action to determine judicial law or policy
 changes that affect many people. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the strategy NGOs helping
of petitions to the High Court, while an independent strategy, is also used against the migrants
Knesset, local authorities, various committees, and policy makers. “We meet once or
twice a year with the head of the Immigration Authority and raise different issues for
consideration. If we can resolve them, there is no need to petition the High Court.
Sometimes we raise issues that are important to us and when I understand the problem,
I decide whether to petition the High Court. Only if it seems important to me will I go to 641
court” (the B NGO lawyer). The director of A NGO said, “Anything that succeeds
without having to go to court is a tremendous achievement. I look for ways to scare
employers so that employees do not need the court or us. With regard to security
companies for example (authors’ note: an area where there is heavy worker
exploitation), we found there is a department in the Ministry of Justice that accredits
them as security companies. The stated criteria for cancellation of their license include
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“unfair practices.” We collected complaints against a particular security firm regarding

the employees’ terms of employment and sent them to the department responsible
for issuing permits. We presented these complaints as examples of unfair practices.
The department acknowledged the correctness of our stance and decided to review
their agreement with the companies annually. This case from 2006 is an example of a
strategy, that the organization chose, that did not involve legal steps to influence policy
in ways other than going to court.
Policies and procedures have been changed following petitions to the High Court.
For example, “Gedera to Hadera.” (In February 2008, the Immigration Authority issued
this regulation, which prohibited foreign workers from residing between Hadera in the
north and Gedera in the south, in response to residents’ complaints to Tel Aviv
municipality about the presence of foreign residents.) Immigration organizations
petitioned the High Court in July 2009 about the regulation, which was abolished within
ten days (on July 30, 2009).
According to the policy established in a 2004 regulation, a female foreign worker
would have to forfeit her visa if she wanted to keep her child with her. In 2005, civil
society organizations petitioned the High Court about the regulation on the grounds
of it being illegal and contravening fundamental human rights under Israeli and
international law. On the April 13, 2011, the Court ruled the procedure illegal. A new
regulation (February 22, 2012) stated, “ […] an employee may choose to leave Israel
with the child and then return to work in Israel or submit a formal request to continue
to stay with the child in Israel. Permission to remain in Israel does not confer on the
parent or the child any rights beyond the rights given in the residence permit already
issued” (Regulation No. 5.2.0023, Immigration Authority).

Interaction with the Knesset (Israeli parliament) and the various authorities
Representatives of the three organizations meet with Knesset members, sit in at
committee meetings, present policy reports, professional opinions, and position papers
for policy makers, take part in (informal) policy-making processes and conduct
surveillance on bills that might infringe human rights. C NGO described the process of
promoting their policies in the Knesset, including participation in Knesset discussions,
but noted the complexities of the interactions in terms of both collaborations
and hostilities. The A NGO lawyer said, “There is cooperation with the authorities and
policy makers, but the executive branch will say publically that civil society is good,
while secretly believing we are doing damage to the state and not understanding the
values that motivate us. It can be said that both sides are mission-driven.”
 IJSSP An employee from A NGO made a similar point. “Over the years, the organization
35,9/10 has become more professional, and government bodies have made use of our
expertise; if they wish to advance some new regulation they might send it to us for
review. At the same time we can attack them on a different topic – that’s the nature of
the relationship.” She noted the association also receives a budget from the Finance
Ministry, which constitutes 10 percent of the organization’s budget, but the state does
642 not set any preconditions for its distribution. With regard to working with the Knesset
and the authorities, organizations typically highlight perceived failures. The B NGO
lawyer said, “As human rights organizations, we indicate what is wrong, but this is not
all we do. As a body that works with the public, we also need to provide solutions to a
given situation. In recent years, as a forum, we’ve put together a number of documents
containing recommendations and principles for changes in policy.”
Those organizations operate continuously and use various measures against
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state institutions. They hold meetings on a range of issues; representatives of the

organizations are often invited to workshops and lectures that take place in different
ministries, and there is transfer of information between the government and the
organizations. However, on a conceptual level, the organizations and the state are on
opposite sides of the barricades.
Most interviewees said government bureaucracy made working with the authorities
extremely difficult. “Bureaucracy is the ideology of the government; the state is a body
that is overburdened and inefficient, with shortages of manpower and a lack of
standardization, which prevents policies from being implemented, this being consistent
with the lack of public policies in the field of immigration.” Another interviewee added,
“We are working with both cooperation and conflict: we try to influence policy, but if
we do not succeed, we appeal to the High Court and the decision makers know this.”

Using mass media and public advocacy to gain public support

The three organizations are active in the public sphere, each within its specialized field.
Their web sites provide details of their activities. A NGO raises awareness of workers’
rights and publishes a handbook detailing the rights and obligations for workers
and employers, such as minimum wages, dates of payment, overtime, holiday pay,
pensions, and severance pay. For example, one of the achievements of A NGO, according
to the organization’s lawyer, is Amendment 24 for salary protection. This legislation
mandated a paycheck specifying all conditions of pay, and stipulated a NIS5,000 fine
per pay slip for non-complying employers. Before the amendment, the burden of proof lay
with the employee, but after the amendment, the responsibility for delivering a fully
detailed pay slip was transferred to the employer.
The web site of the A NGO offers an excellent example of the organization’s use of
the media. An internal conference report entitled “Black Money, Black Labor: Illegal
Brokerage Fees” was sent to the media. This report criticized a nursing organization
that was taking thousands of dollars from each foreign worker, thus acting illegally
and violating human rights. Through the media, the A NGO was able to mobilize
public opinion against the nursing organization (A NGO, n.d.). As one of the
volunteers stated in an interview, “We use the press to shame the exploitive
employers. This creates awareness and hurts these companies by labeling and
discrediting them. The outcome is that the companies are losing money. When I was a
manager in the A NGO we were sued for libel fifteen times and received more than
forty additional threats to sue us.” Her experience indicates the power of using
mass media. C NGO also issues newsletters in different areas, for example in the
 field of human trafficking, and organizes events to raise awareness, such as NGOs helping
International Refugee Day, International Migrants Day, Passover festivities for migrants
refugees, demonstrations, and more.
According to a spokesperson for the Immigration and Population Authority, the
activities of NGOs effect immigration policy. When a policy is on the public agenda,
organizations highlight the issues through the media, increased criticism of the entry
of immigration inspectors to schools, churches, and hospitals led to a decision to 643
reverse this policy.

Appealing to foreign governments

To achieve its goals, members of the A NGO are willing to resort to extreme steps,
which most Israelis would consider controversial. The organization decided to file a
complaint with the government of the USA about certain Israeli policies. For example,
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the Law of Prohibition of Trafficking of persons exists in Israel, but authorities had not
enforced it. The founder of this organization stated during an interview, “We turned to
the authorities, but we encountered insensitivity. When we understood that the system
was closed we published this theme abroad. The USA showed interest in this subject
matter. The political attaché of American embassy came to us, asked for explanations,
and then contacted the Israeli government about this issue. The embassy even donated
money to us.” When the American embassy intervened in this matter, the Israeli
authorities began to monitor prostitutes and arrested pimps who were operating the
human trafficking networks for the purposes of prostitution. Today there is much more
enforcement of the regulations.” After we handled this topic, the A NGO received a
medal of honor from the Israeli president in recognition of the social struggle that the
organization has undertaken in the defense of victims of human trafficking for slavery
and forced labor, and in recognition of the organization’s skills in identifying these
offenses and initiating enforcement procedures against them.
This case – of preventing human slavery – offers is a good example of the three
NGOs acting against Israeli authorities as a counterculture within legal boundaries.

Organizations share common values and ideology

Interviewees noted that the values driving them are the desire to give, helping the
weak, altruism, personal guilt feelings, a cosmopolitan outlook, belief in equality,
justice, tolerance, fairness, a desire to succeed on a personal level, and a sense of ego.
People testified that they operate out of concern and ideological conviction: “People do
not come to work as such; rather, they come with faith in what they are doing.”
One interviewee (from the A NGO) said, “My values drive me to promote social welfare
and equality, where any person should be entitled the basics in health and education.
There should be no difference between an immigrant from Russia or America coming
here because his grandfather was Jewish, or a Zionist, and a Sudanese crossing the
border. Each is entitled to be employed in a non-offensive manner.”
According to a B NGO employee, these organizations share a common language and
a different worldview, “Those who work here are more sensitive to harm done
to weaker populations.” As the CEO of A NGO put it, “As an Arab, it is impossible not
to understand human rights.” A number of employees said that they were motivated by
ideology. For example, a worker said, “I’m a subversive character – I do not believe in
the system, and here I can earn money for subverting it. My convictions got me into
trouble in every other job I did. By nature I do not accept authority, nor do I not accept
anything blindly as the truth.”
 IJSSP Discussion
35,9/10 The findings show that that the three NGOs exist and collaborate with other
organizations, in order to promote a left-wing ideological agenda (Menuchin, 2010). In
part, this can explain the conflict between these NGOs and the Israeli right-wing
government (Moskovich, 2004; Moskovich and Achouch, 2013).
In recent years, Israel has embraced an open and liberal economy, in which the
644 lowest classes, such as immigrant workers, have suffered the most. Israel currently
ranks first among western countries regarding poverty. This fact is an outcome of the
social and economic policies of the government of Benjamin Netanyahu (Moskovich,
2004). The current government’s capitalist policies have served the interests of the
economic elites, widened the gap between the richest and poorest classes, decreased the
social services offered to the public, privatized national assets, and channeled a
disproportionate amount of national resources to West Bank settlements and religious
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organizations (Ben Refael and Shternberg, 2007; Etzioni-Halevy, 1997).

Growth in Israel’s current economic structure requires cheap labor, a fact that
increases the demand for cheap workers. The greater the exploitation of these workers,
the greater the profit margin of the financial tycoons. These tycoons are well connected
to government ministers and other political elites, who help protect the tycoons’
investments by means of policy and legislation (Althusser, 2003; Ben Refael and
Shternberg, 2007; Bourdieu, 1993; Horkheimer and Adorno, 2002). Employers are
averse to improving the conditions of their workers; they ignore existing rules because
of the negative impact on their profits. Through its silence and passivity, the
government collaborates in this situation. The lack of pro-active enforcement of laws
and regulations against exploitative employers maintains the capitalist hegemony of
Israeli society (Gramsci, 2004; Kimmerling, 2004).
One can analyze Israeli national culture along various dimensions. A number of
these cultural dimensions identify the three NGOs as a counterculture and explain its
clash with the dominant culture in Israel. Specifically, they criticize and oppose the
dominant culture’s exploitive capitalist employment conditions in Israeli society
(William, 1999). Although, William’s analysis can be considered as activity by groups
opposing those NGOs, the definition of counterculture as offering an alternative way of
living is more suitable regarding this case study. In this study, the researched
NGOs are not just groups opposing Israeli governmental authorities, but the three
NGOs suggest an alternative socialist core of values by demanding the improvement of
working conditions and helping unprivileged population sectors, and by establishment
of a just and equal society. Most NGO researchers mention strategies of civil society as
a soft power struggle, using the media and diplomacy, as well as pressure on, and
public criticism of, the authorities. The strategies described in this research are very
militant, with a wish to undermine the system, and resemble a declaration of war on the
governmental authorities. These strategies are much stronger then soft power and can
also support the definition of those NGOs as counterculture (Grant and Keohane, 2005;
Steinberg, 2011).
The first, and most obvious, dimension that distinguishes the three NGOs from the
dominant culture deals with the division of power in Israeli society. Currently, there is a
near-total centralization of power in the hands of existing hierarchies, unwilling to
share this power with other sectors of the society. The dominant culture prioritizes
ethnocentric policies, which assist economically established Jewish citizens first –
assigning immigrants, poor people, and Palestinians last place on the list of the
socio-economic priorities (Kimmerling, 2004). In direct opposition to this situation, they
 want to create a society based on equality, in which the currently oppressed minorities NGOs helping
will be able to address their grievances more successfully. migrants
The dominant culture in Israel has tended toward hedonism since the late 1960s.
Possibly as an escapist reaction to external threats, the Israeli middle class seeks
instant pleasure and amusement, usually leaving little time to consider the plight of
less fortunate members of society. In stark contrast, members of the three NGOs are
motivated by altruism that has created a strong identification with, and empathy 645
toward, underprivileged people in Israel (Almog, 2004; Ram, 1999).
The literature describes countercultures as anarchistic and subversive; most of them
avoid working with the establishment and some do not accept democratic government
rules. The three NGOs operate within legal boundaries; they accept the democratic
rules of the game. This is different from other illegal countercultures (Brown, 2004;
Brown and Brown, 2004; Chatfield, 2004; Churchill, 2008; Fridman, 1996; Gilroy, 1987;
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Hebdige, 2008; Saunders, 2012; Willis, 1978).

This case study is important because it focusses on sophisticated nongovernmental
organizations, which both collaborate with and oppose the existing power structure.
This duality separates these particular NGOs from the others discussed in the
literature. If the three NGOs can promote their agenda by cooperating with the Knesset
(parliament) and Israeli authorities, the organization will do it.
These NGOs are devoted to their social causes and their members feel obligated to a
socialist agenda of structural societal change. They act controversially, including
complaining about Israeli authorities to foreign governments, invoking the inevitable
hostility of many sectors of Israeli society. They are rebellious nonconformists and
subversive; but a sense of guilt that the state has neglected defenseless workers, as well
as faith in altruism and justice, drive the members to subversive activism within
the system. Their high level of professionalism in jurisprudence facilitates their
multifaceted rebellion against the dominant culture.
Yet, despite its distain for many of the activities of the three NGOs, the Israeli
establishment wants to work with the organizations. The government even funds a small
part of the organizations’ budgets. The goal is to ameliorate and control the activity of those
three NGOs and even assimilate them into the power structure. The ultimate result would
be to dismantle the resistance of the three NGOs to the dominant culture (Gramsci, 2004).
Moreover, these NGOs know how to use the legal system, seeking court orders and
appealing to the Supreme Court to enforce existing laws. To prevent public
embarrassment, the authorities negotiate with them and enact employment legislation
that improves work conditions for impoverished and defenseless employees. All these
strategies explain the achievements of the three NGOs in the legislative and judicial fields.
The findings of this case study support expanding the definition of counterculture.
Yes, counterculture is normally identified with rebellious, nonconformist ideas and
members opposing the establishment; although a counterculture can simultaneously
collaborate with the establishment, such an action may be perceived as subversive to
the existing establishment in order to achieve its goals. In the current case, the three
NGOs act within the legal democratic borders of existing society, in contrast to other
counterculture groups that exist outside those borders.

Conclusions
Left-wing ideology motivates these three NGOs with cultural egalitarian principles.
This is in sharp contrast to the dominant Israeli right-wing culture, with its
hierarchical, ethnocentric attitude toward the Jewish-Israeli in-group, and thus without
 IJSSP an obligation to the well-being of outsiders. The cultural features of the three NGOs
35,9/10 characterize a counterculture: clashing with governmental authorities and exploitive
economic elites. Yet, at the same time, this particular counterculture organization
collaborates with the establishment, even receiving partial funding from the government
to achieve its goals, despite its underlying opposition to the dominant culture. Thus, this
Israeli case study expands the definition of counterculture.
646 This case study presents a sophisticated way of how to remain subversive and
rebellious in relation to the Israeli authorities, while simultaneously benefiting from the
relationship with the government. This case study teaches us how to handle a
conservative establishment, such as that of Israeli society and other democratic states.
If NGOs play by the customary rules in the society, nobody will pay attention to their
struggle. Attacking the establishment by legal means is effective when using experts,
as in this case. This case study is relevant regarding the help to outsiders, people who
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are not accepted in society, such as foreigners, refugees, and other underprivileged
groups. In Israel this case study can serve other NGOs that fight for the Arab
population’s human rights and are not accepted. In other democratic states, NGOs who
serve minorities or weak groups can benefit from this example. NGOs who act on
behalf of strong groups that are connected to the government do not need controversial
strategies, as was demonstrated by this research.

Notes
1. Assumed names.
2. www.A NGO.org.il/en/
3. www.B NGO.org.il/en/
4. http://C NGO.org.il/en/main/

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About the authors

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Yaffa Moskovich, PhD, earned her Doctorate at the Bar Ilan University, Israel. She has worked
in the school of Management, Zefat Academic College in Zefat, Israel since 2002. Currently, she is
a Senior Lecturer and heads the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the Zefat Academic
College. Her expertise is in the field of political and organizational sociology. Her work involves
organizational change, leadership in political parties, unions, NGOs, and multi-cultural group
relationships. Dr Moskovich is currently researching leadership in a kibbutz factory and NGOs
in immigration field. Yaffa Moskovich is the corresponding author and can be contacted
at: mosko777@gmail.com
Dr Adi Binhas, PhD, earned her Doctorate in Political Science at the Bar Ilan University,
Israel. She has worked in the School of Public Administration, Beit Beril Academic College in
Kfar Saba, Israel since 2004. She currently heads the Department of Public Policy, the
Department of Organizational Development, and the Department of Conflict Resolution in the Bet
Beril College. Her expertise deals with the effects of NGOs on public policy. Dr Binhas’ recent
research has focussed on NGOs, issues of immigration, and human rights.

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