A profile of “New Profile”
Who: New Profile is an active member of the Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) - an umbrella organization which includes members such as Machsom Watch and Women in Black. CWP engages in demonization of Israel using “apartheid” and “Naqba” rhetoric and promotes boycotting Israeli goods.
What: New Profile’s charter claims that Israel “need not be a militarized society” saying “We are convinced that we ourselves, our children, our partners, need not go on being endlessly mobilized, need not go on living as warriors…While taught to believe that the country is faced by threats beyond its control, we now realize that the words “national security” have often masked calculated decisions to choose military action for the achievement of political goals.”
The charter also states the New Profile is rooted in “feminism”, “peace politics” and an opposition to “the use of military means to enforce Israeli sovereignty beyond the Green Line”. In an interview with Ruth Hiller, a New Profile founder, she said that New Profile is “working to de-militarize society in Israel, to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land conquered in 1967.”
Activities: New Profile claims to advocate the “basic human right to conscientious objection” and the demilitarization of Israeli society, and provides legal and other support for “refusers” (those who refuse to serve in the military) and their families. New Profile provides accompaniment for “refusers” and posts updates on the refusers’ status on their website in a section called “In [military] prison now”.
New Profile also promotes “critical debate about enlisting and refusing to enlist” aiming to “increace the legitimacy of those who have chosen or have not chosen (the army chose for them) not to enlist.” New Profile organizes a “Refusers Support Network” and initiated the “Think Before Enlisting Campaign” dealing with “draft avoidance”. Additionally, New Profile operates an “Alternative Summer Camp” which deals with issues like “occupation, feminism, ecology, militarism, and more” and held discussions on “Palestinian Naqba, civil inequality, occupation, creative protest” and other topics. New Profile also facilitates a seminar for youth “in doubt”. A Youth group field trip organized by New Profile visited the “Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) summer camp in Anata, Palestine” where they discussed “‘economic terrorism’, the imposition of the Israeli Government on life in the Old City, and house demolitions” and “saw an Israeli settlement in the Occupied Territory and learned about East Jerusalem”.
Funders: Quakers UK, SIVMO, Cord Aid, Coalition for Women for Peace (CWP), Gush Shalom, Zochrot, the Refusiniks Solidarity Network and the Hienrich Boell foundation and other organizations and individuals (information received from the Israel Registry for Non-Profit Organizations).
Partners: Among other organizations “in Israel and Palestine” Zochrot is a partner of New Profile and they have worked together in the past to mark the “anniversary of the Naqba”. New Profile claims to have connections with Bimkom, Gush Shalom, Yesh Gvul, War Resisters International, and Sabeel.
Investigation: According to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, New Profile is under investigation for “incitement…to persuade conscripts to obtain an exemption by deceiving the army” and claims that the site “gives finely detailed instructions on how to execute this deception” which “obliges the state to deviate from its [usual] highly restrained policy of not investigating a priori suspicions of incitement to evasion of military duty”. (See Jerusalem Post and Haaretz articles.)
