Ishmael Khaldi

Ismail Khaldi is the first Bedouin deputy consul of the State of Israel and the nation's first high ranking Muslim in the Israeli foreign service. In June 2006, he was appointed to serve in San Francisco . In August 2009 Khaldi was appointed advisor to the minister of foreign affairs Avigdor Lieberman. Ishmael Khaldi lived in a Bedouin tent until he was 8 years old, walked 4 miles round trip to school each day and tended flocks of sheep. Hesaid his family's ties with its Jewish neighbors go back to the days of the early Zionist pioneers from Eastern Europe who settled in the Galilee region in the 1920s. Khaldi says there is still a long way to go before the Bedouin minority achieves full equality in Israel, but reported that the situation is improving, and more Bedouins are graduating from high school, entering universities and getting better jobs than ever before. He served in Israeli Ministry of Defense , Israel Police , and in the Israel Defense Forces as a political analyst. Khaldi initiated a project called "Hike and Learn with Bedouins in the Galilee" that has brought thousands of young Jews to the village of Khawalid to learn about Bedouin culture and history. He said these encounters inspired him to become a diplomat. Khaldi is a strong advocate of Israel. He said I am a proud Israeli - along with many other non-Jewish Israelis such as Druze, Bahai, Bedouin, Christians and Muslims, who live in one of the most culturally diversified societies and the only true democracy in the Middle East. Like America, Israeli society is far from perfect, but let us deals honestly. By any yardstick you choose -- educational opportunity, economic development, women and gay's rights, freedom of speech and assembly, legislative representation -- Israel's minorities fare far better than any other country in the Middle East. In response to Israel Apartheid Week , Khaldi said Do Israel's Arab citizens suffer from disadvantage? You better believe it. Do African Americans 10 minutes from the Berkeley campus suffer from disadvantage - you better believe it, too. So should we launch a Berkeley Apartheid Week, or should we seek real ways to better our societies and make opportunity more available...Vilification and false labeling is a blind alley that is unjust and takes us nowhere...You deny Israel the fundamental right of every society to defend itself...Your criticism is willfully hypocritical....You are betraying the moderate Muslims and Jews who are working to achieve peace...To the organizers of Israel Apartheid Week I would like to say: If Israel were an apartheid state, I would not have been appointed here, nor would I have chosen to take upon myself this duty. "From shepherd to diplomat: Bedouin named deputy consul" . j. the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California. "S.F.'s newest consul enjoys being Bedouin, proud to be Israeli / Ishmael Khaldi, who began life as a nomad, is first Muslim envoy to rise through ranks" .¹