First paragraph (Teaser):

The following is an official message from a grassroots movement in Israel named New Profile, which is part of a larger coalition of Israeli groups opposed to the occupation and repression of Palestinians and to the militarization of Israeli culture. Currently, the Israeli government is using methods that are becoming more and more repressive, which is why we feel it is important to share this with you. Below their summary of the situation, you will find links to related articles and a call to action.

Excerpts :

We would like to reiterate that police harassment of New Profile and the interrogation of eleven of our members are not isolated events. They are part of a virulent drive of state McCarthyism, a stepped-up systematic persecution of left-wing activists and voices. This drive arguably obviates the remnants of Israel's claim to democracy and parodies its ludicrous boast to representing a single democratic beacon in the Middle East. // Among human rights organizations in Israel, Adalah for instance is still preparing a report on the recent, sharp escalation in combined state and university repression of student activists and [...] will soon be publicizing their comprehensive report on state violence against activists, left-wing groups and individuals, as well as their international supporters.

Rest of the text: July 15, 2009
Dear Supporters,

    As with our earlier (two) updates, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued and faithful support of New Profile during these critical times.  During the recent months your visible show of support has been truly significant and heartening.

    The ongoing attempt to delegitimize New Profile is being played out, for now, on the forms and desks of bureaucrats.  There are two official scenarios already in process:
1) A petition to the High Court of Justice to revoke New Profile's registration as a non-profit organization, which would amount to shutting off our legal channel for receiving funds;
2) The criminal investigation of New Profile for alleged incitement and assistance with obtaining fraudulent exemptions from the army.  (For full background information see two previous updates: http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=166; http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=102.)

    The court case is now stalled, pending the results of the police investigation. The police, for their part, after the high drama of an orchestrated "raid", have completed their initial interrogations and transferred the case back to the Attorney General. The computers they confiscated were returned to their owners 30 days after being impounded. Written and printed materials have not yet been returned. Further investigative work may be initiated by the police, at any given time, including additional interrogations. We can only assume that the material gathered is now being combed for alleged criminal offenses towards possible indictments.

    New Profile members are working very hard both as a movement and as individuals, to resist the intentionally exhausting and dispiriting effects of waiting out the course of this laborious bureaucratic legal process. Just one of our means for doing this has been the unorthodox move of taking a series of close, candid, intimate looks back at the investigators and their practices. (For our series "Investigating the Investigation" , authored by various New Profile activists, see: http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=119#more-119.)

    We would like to reiterate that police harassment of New Profile and the interrogation of eleven of our members are not isolated events. They are part of a virulent drive of state McCarthyism, a stepped-up systematic persecution of left-wing activists and voices. This drive arguably obviates the remnants of Israel's claim to democracy and parodies its ludicrous boast to representing a single democratic beacon in the Middle East.

    Among human rights organizations in Israel, Adalah (www.adalah.org/eng/index. php) for instance is still preparing a report on the recent, sharp escalation in combined state and university repression of student activists and, in particular, Palestinian citizens of Israel; the Association of Citizen’s Rights in Israel (www.acri.org/eng/) will soon be publicizing their comprehensive report on state violence against activists, left-wing groups and individuals, as well as their international supporters.

    Our last update, listed, among others:

-          Samih Jabarin, who still remains under house arrest months after being arrested for participating in a political demonstration in Umm al Fahm, though he has finally been allowed to return to his place of residence in Yaffa. The conditions of his house-arrest have significantly improved and while still bound to them,  he will now be able to resume part of his work at the Arab-Hebrew Theater until the next court session, set for September 2009. (See: Link to the petition: http://www.atzuma.co.il/petition/friendsofsamieh/1/1000/.)

-          Anarchists Against the Wall, some of whom have recently been sentenced to prison terms. (Read more on their website, www.awalls.org.)

-          Ezra Nawi, who's sentencing has been postponed, dragging out the legal process. (See: www.supportezra.net.)
This list is constantly expanding. Some of the newer instances include:

1)      The recent interrogation of members of Yesh Gvul, for alleged "incitement to evade military service", while promising "financial incentives". This longtime refusers' group, primarily supporting refusal to serve in the Occupied Territories, was also questioned regarding their web link to New Profile's website. (For more information, see: http://www.yeshgvul.org/news.asp?id=81a03ef84f6d0ab2ad2b7d21cec9ea71.)

2)      The kidnapping by Israel's navy, on June 30th, of the passengers and crew of “The Spirit of Humanity,” on board which the Free Gaza Movement was bringing food, medical supplies and human rights monitors towards Gaza port. Amongst the 21 passengers detained and later deported were Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire and former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. (For detailed information, see: www.freegaza.org.)

3)      The continuing refusal of Israeli state authorities to allow members of the UN investigative mission on the events of December-January 2008-9 to enter Israel. The mission, headed by world renowned jurist Richard Goldstone, has been hearing testimonies in the Gaza Strip. (For a report on the mission, see for instance: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3739538,00.html.)

    And yet, we would also like to point out that within the overall context of political and racist persecution, each separate instance of repression represents individual state policies and specific bids for control by the state. New Profile's criminalization and our attempted shut-down are directed, in particular, at intimidating the huge numbers of young people who fail to comply with conscription law today. The drive against us targets this popular display of mistrust and indifference, this major threat to politicians' fear-based hold on voting constituencies and to military commanders' uncontested control of "national security" issues.

    New Profile's criminalization follows a fault line that has long been quaking beneath the surface of Israeli society and is now visibly cracking open.

    We will send out further updates as the events unfold and we'll also turn to each of you to take concrete action when needed. We'd like to remind you, though, of our ongoing need to inform and engage more and more people and of our list "What you can do" at: www.newprofile. org/english/?p=102#what-you-can-do . Please take one of these actions into consideration.

    Again, we hugely appreciate your continuing interest, caring and support.
    Sincerely,
    Ruth Hiller & Rela Mazali

Related Posts

1. Update from New Profile: Israel ‘is very far from the democracy [it] claims to be.’
2. Israeli police descend on feminist peace group, signaling ‘real changes in Israeli society’
3. Israeli police descend on feminist peace group, signaling ‘real changes in Israeli society’
4. Israel said to be cracking down on protesters
5. Israel said to be cracking down on protesters

What you can do

Here is a list of things you can do:

1. Join the appeal of Jewish Voice for Peace (see also the statement and form for sending letters of protest from War Resisters’ International) .
   
2. Write a short letter of protest to Israeli officials; see list of officials and their contact information below.
   
3. Reach out to journalists from your community, provide them with material and suggest they interview New Profile activists in your local or national media. To coordinate interviews, email us at nppr [at] newprofile.org .
   
4. Organize a parlor meeting or a community meeting to discuss, learn about and publicize the current escalation in Israel in the politicized use of police and courts as a means of gagging dissent—most brutally among Palestinian citizens of Israel (for instance, see here) and among Jewish peace activists;
   
5. Use technology to bring us to your meeting, via video (on “Skype” for instance) or conference call; this is a very effective method for us to communicate with you and your group directly.
   
6. Write a short letter of protest to Israeli media, in your own language or in Hebrew if you’re able. See list of media contacts, below. Please send us copies of anything you write and any answers you receive to: nppr [at] newprofile.org.
   
7. Distribute our Press Release and the appeal from Jewish Voice for Peace among friends, family, acquaintances, other activists, at work places, community centers, schools, colleges, activist groups and ask people to disseminate them further.
   
8. Write an op-ed; contact us to help place it in an Israeli newspaper: nppr [at] newprofile.org.
   
9. Compile in your language, print and distribute translations or summaries of the New Profile press release and of the Jewish Voice for Peace appeal.
   
10. Organize public actions in your community to protest the anti-democratic gagging of dissent, possibly at an official or semi-official Israeli site;
    
11. Identify and reach out to potentially sympathetic organizations and groups you know of, that have yet to become involved in action on Israel/Palestine and invite them to join work on this issue;
    
12. Organize appeals to your Foreign Minister and to other elected representatives demanding your government’s censure of Israel’s anti-democratic gagging of dissent;
    
13. Write and publish an advertisement of protest in Israeli newspapers—either as an umbrella of groups or as individuals (we will be glad to help with translation to Hebrew if necessary);
    
14. Help organize and fund a speaking tour for a New Profile activist, preferably along with a Palestinian activist, focusing on the topic of Israel’s practices of gagging of dissent;
    
15. Add your own ideas and determined creativity to this list and share them with us (nppr [at] newprofile.org).
    
16. Make a contribution to New Profile;
    

Where to address your letters of protest

Menachem Mazuz Attorney General Ministry of Justice Salah-a-Din 29 POB 49029 Jerusalem, 91490 Israel Fax: +972-2-6467001 menim@justice.gov.il

Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister Prime Minister’s Office 3 Kaplan St. Hakirya, Jerusalem 91950, Israel at http://www.pmo. gov.il/PMOEng/ PM/Write+ to+PM/ or http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/ General/ContactU s.htm Tel: ++972-3-6109898

Mr. Yitzhak Aharonovitz Minister of Public Security Ministry of Public Security P.O. Box 18182, Jerusalem 91181, Israel iaharon@knesset.gov.il

Yaakov Neeman Ministry of Justice Salah-a-Din 29 P.O. Box 49029 Jerusalem, 91490 Israel sar@justice.gov.il

Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen Inspector General National Headquarters Israeli Police Jerusalem, 91906 Israel

Mr. Ehud Barak, Minister of Defense, Ministry of Defense, Hakirya, Tel-Aviv 64743, Israel E-mail: sar@mod.gov.il or pniot@mod.gov.il Tel.: ++972-3-6975540 or ++972-3-6975423 Fax: ++972-3-6976711

For those of you who live outside Israel, it would be very effective to send protests to your local Israeli embassy. You can find the address of your local embassy on the web.

In the U.S., send emails to: info@washington.mfa.gov.il

Where to send “Letters to the Editor”: Israeli Press Contacts

Please keep letters under 600 words and try to follow up with emails and phone calls, urging the responsible editor to print your letter. Send your English-language article or letter to the editor to:
International Herald Tribune’s Haaretz English (daily) branch: iht@haaretz.co.il
Ha’aretz: (send letters to all of these addresses):
Letters@haaretz.co.il; editor@haaretz.co.il; feedback@haaretz.co.il; musaf@haaretz.co.il; weekend@haaretz.co.il; saram@haaretz.co.il; gadi.lahav@haaretz.co.il; liron.meroz@haaretz.co. il; Osnat.kohali@themarker. com
Jerusalem Post (English daily): letters@jpost.com; editors@jpost.co.il; eedition@jpost.com; liat@jpost.com
Jerusalem Post in French: redaction@jpost.com
Jerusalem Report (English bi-weekly): jrep@jreport.co.il
Hebrew only:
Maariv: editor@maariv.co.il
Yediot Ahronot: tgoovot@yedioth.co.il