Israeli Activist Explains Opposition to Conscription

One of the founding members of an Israeli organization opposing mandatory military service emotionally recounted last night her efforts to help her sons avoid serving in the Israeli Army.

Ruth Hiller told an audience of almost 50 people in the Science Center that the Army’s central and unquestioned role in Israel creates anxiety.

“There is a lot of fear in Israel. We have to provide an alternative,” said Hiller.

Hiller, who immigrated to Israel in 1973 from San Jose, Calif., is the mother of six children. Her two daughters both served in the Israeli Army prior to her efforts to free three of her sons from the same obligation.

“I was obedient, and I did not think they were in danger,” Hiller said of her daughters. “Now I know I was wrong,”

Hiller became increasingly emotional as she recalled her oldest son’s decision to become a conscientious objector, a status that is not recognized by the Israeli government.

“When Yonnin was 15, he came up to me and told me that he couldn’t serve in the Israeli Army because he was a pacifist and I was scared,” she said of her oldest son.

Following her son’s declaration, Hiller began to search for channels through which she and her son could express their pacifism. While participating in various street protests against the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Hiller began to find other women who shared her anti-conscription sentiments.

In October 1998, Hiller and several other women formed New Profile, a feminist organization that “strives to replace Israel’s predominant military profile with a humanistic and egalitarian one,” according to the organization’s literature.

In February 2002, the Israeli high court cited incompatibility as its reason to pardon Hiller’s son from his military service. Hiller had hoped the court would instead grant the pardon because of her son’s conscientious objection.

New Profile currently has over 1,000 subscribers to its mailing list. The organization holds open monthly meetings and gives presentations in schools throughout Israel. Hiller stressed the fact that New Profile supports all conscientious objectors.

The organization has also faced a great deal of opposition. Hiller recalled one New Profile meeting that was met by protestors who shouted that Israel needed a standing army to prevent another Holocaust.

Eric R. Trager ’05, the secretary of Harvard Students for Israel, voiced similar sentiments about the anti-conscription movement.

“What’s troubling is that the groups that brought Mrs. Hiller were pretending as though refusing to serve in the Israeli Army was a brave appeal to humanitarian standards,” Trager said. “If anything, it’s an affront to the Israeli democracy and affront to the very humanitarian means through which it is fighting Palestinian terror in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”

Others had a more positive opinion of Hiller’s speech than Trager did.

“It’s always refreshing to have somebody who actually lives in the area speaking on it,” said Hebah M. Ismail ’06, the secretary of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee.

While much of Hiller’s work has focused on ending conscription in Israel, she also stressed her efforts to free Israel’s education system of military propaganda.

“We educate our children that their rifle is their best friend and they should never leave their friend,” Hiller said.

Following her talk, Hiller fielded questions from the audience on an array of subjects, ranging from her role in various Palestinian movements to her vision for Israel.

“I don’t hate Israel. I think that the reason I am here is because I am the most patriotic person in the world,” Hiller said in response to a question about her decision to denounce Zionism.

Hiller, who is currently in the middle of a speaking tour at various U.S. colleges, will speak at Brandeis University tomorrow.

Hiller’s speech was sponsored by the Harvard Society of Arab Students, the Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice, the Palestinian Solidarity Committee and the Progressive Jewish Alliance.