My name is Janet Barbara Finkelstein and I was born and raised in Tel Aviv, deep within the Nation of Israel. I'd like to tell you about my wonderful new life as a follower of Islam and a part-time resident of both the United States of America and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Once upon a time, I was a Captain in the Israeli Defense Forces. Until I fell in love with Farouk Al-Hajj, a handsome young man from Saudi Arabia, and he taught me the ways of love and the ways of Islam. That's when I r enounced my Zionist ways and embraced Islam, the true faith. Please follow me on my journey as I tell you about the most important moments of my life. Be open-minded, ladies and gentlemen. It's the story of my new life.
The Nation of Israel came into being during the 1940s, when scores of Jews from North America, Europe and elsewhere returned to the Middle East to found their own country. After the nightmares of the Holocaust, all Jews realized that being who and what we are is about more than just religion. We discovered that we should unite, much like African-Americans united against segregation and discrimination in North America in the 1960s. I am proud to say that I was born in Israel to American parents hailing from a Jewish neighborhood in The Bronx, New York. Israel is always outnumbered and always outgunned, but we stick together. I grew up with nothing but love for my country. That's why I initially joined the Israeli Defense Forces. However, even a patriot like me can see that sometimes, my country goes too far...
The death of that young American woman who came to Israel to protest the mistreatment of Arabs at the hands of our increasingly colonialist settlers affected me profoundly. She didn't have to die. That event profoundly shook my faith in my country. When I was younger, my parents often talked about Apartheid in South Africa. The racist white men and white women who controlled the Apartheid government of South Africa constantly mistreated the Blacks of that nation. Even though Blacks make up ninety percent of the population of the Republic of South Africa. When Apartheid ended and a Black man became President of the Republic of South Africa, I was thrilled. Finally, the Blacks down there were free. It wouldn't occur to me that Israel was behaving much like the Apartheid government toward the Palestinians until years later...
I was visiting my relatives in New York City, the most beautiful town in the United States of America, when I met Farouk Al-Hajj. A six-foot-tall, handsome young man of Saudi descent. He was born in the City of Mecca, deep within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He grew up in New York City, though. His parents were well-adjusted Saudi Americans. His father Ibrahim Al-Hajj was a professional chef in The Bronx and his mother Fatima worked as a social worker for the New York City Department of Social Services. Farouk Al-Hajj was a twenty-year-old student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. And he lived right across from my uncle Levi Finkelstein, my father's older brother. Contrarily to what I had observed in the Middle East, Arab-Americans and Jews could be friends in New York City. In my uncle's neighborhood, there was a mosque in one end of the street and a synagogue in the other. Jews and Arabs were both minorities in this mostly Italian neighborhood but they got along famously. In fact, Farouk Al-Hajj was good friends with my cousin Nicolas Finkelstein, who attended the University of New York City or CUNY.
