Meanwhile, the Israeli government has accused two prominent human rights groups of undermining the state. In a submission to a Jerusalem court, a state prosecutor said the groups HaMoked and B’Tselem “undermine the existence” of the State of Israel and “cause it damage in the world.” The statement came in a lawsuit brought by a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem against the Israeli government for alleged harassment and abuse. The man’s lawsuit included a statement from a representative of the group Hamoked, which, along with B’Tselem, documents human rights abuses in the Occupied Territories. In response to the prosecutor’s comments, HaMoked director Dalia Kerstein wrote: “The prosecution document contains unbridled attacks on our organization, on B’Tselem and on the very notion of defending the human rights of Palestinians. Attacks by the state on human rights organizations active in it and on the sheer legitimacy of their existence pose a serious threat to democratic rule.”