Israeli Women into Black Men

Salome Rosenthal, that's my name. With such a moniker, I might as well have 'Jewish Broad' tattooed on my forehead. I was born in the City of Tel Aviv, Israel, to an American Christian mother and Israeli Jewish father. I was raised Jewish, though. My parents, Benjamin Rosenthal and Maeve O'Connell are divorced, have been for a decade. A lot of interfaith marriages end up that way but I grew up in a fairly normal household. Whose parents don't get into shouting matches at least some of the time, right?

For most of my life, Israel was all I knew. I mean, my family would visit places like Paris and Vienna during the summer but Israel has always been and will always be home. When I turned twenty, after completing my mandatory tour of duty with the Israeli Defense Forces, I opted to study outside of Israel. The Knesset was funding international studies for the growing number of Israeli citizens who wanted to attend institutions of higher education in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.

I honestly don't know why I selected the City of Ottawa, Ontario, over more popular destinations like New York City or London, England. Boston was on my list of cities whose schools impressed me. I was considering Northeastern University but the Chechen terrorist incident in Boston forced me to change my mind. It seems that the U.S. is as much a target for Jihadists as the State of Israel itself. Having had my fill of war and terror, I opted for greener pastures. Thus I ended up selecting a little-known school in Canada's Capital over world-famous institutions like Harvard University, Oxford University and the like. That's how I ended up at Carleton University.

I don't know what I expected of a Canadian university but Carleton definitely exceeded my expectations, whatever they might have been. At the colleges and universities of Israel, we have Israeli Jews, Ethiopian Jews, Berbers, Arab Christians, Arab Muslims and Druze along with people from the Baha'i faith. We also have a growing number of European and North American students attending our schools as well. Carleton's diversity amazed me. I saw many students from places like Africa, the Arab world, Latin America, the Caribbean, southeast Asia and the like. How about that?

While at Carleton, I met the two people destined to change my life forever. Bethlehem and Ammanuel "Manny" Birru, a pair of Ethiopian immigrants I ran into in the food court. We have a large Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel, and I learned Amharic from them. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I greeted the two of them in Amharic, then asked if I could join them for a quick bite. Beth and Many are brother and sister, I could tell just by looking at them. He's over six feet tall and willowy, with light brown skin, curly black hair and pale brown eyes. She's short and stocky, a bit darker than him but the facial resemblance between them was uncanny. Yup, family.

I sat down with Manny and Beth and we learned a bit more about each other while eating Shawarma sandwiches and drinking Pepsis. They were curious as to why a 'white' gal like me spoke their language. I proudly told them that I have a multitude of ethnicities in my family. My father was born in Israel to a Jewish father and Lebanese Christian mother. My mother was born in the U.S. to an Irish-American father and Puerto Rican mother. I have Irish, Jewish, Hispanic and Lebanese blood flowing through my veins. And I am proud of the beautiful blend that is me.

I'm five-foot-ten, curvy and sexy, with long black hair, light brown eyes and light bronze skin. Most people assume I'm Hispanic or Italian when they meet me. I always tell them that I'm from the State of Israel. People tend to stare at me when I reveal that, especially in North America. Yes, I am a citizen of Israel. The most unpopular nation on the planet. Even Zimbabwe with its dictator ( oops, I'm sorry, I meant democratically elected president-for-life ) Robert Mugabe and Iran with its Ayatollah are more popular than us Israeli Jews.

It's not cool to be from Israel these days, with everyone and their mama throwing out terms like Israeli Apartheid and 'nation for Palestine' like there's no tomorrow. With the Muslims poised to take over Europe from within due to their infiltration of all echelons of society and their high birthrate, the Americans, Canadians, Brits and other Westerners who are always whining about Palestinians rights will soon know firsthand what the Arabs do to those they hate once they acquire power over them. Won't be long before the Flag of Islam flies over British Parliament buildings and maybe even the U.S. Capitol building itself.

The only place in the Middle East where Arab Christians and other non-Muslims can feel safe is the State of Israel. We've rolled out the welcome mat to Christian refugees from places like war-torn Syria and the eternally besieged Coptic communities of Egypt. We know what the Muslims do to Arab Christians every chance they get. They force them to convert or they persecute them. Those who follow Islam don't play well with others. It is their belief that their religion is superior to all others and should be the template for all mankind. Anyone who disagrees must be forcibly converted or slaughtered. There can be no middle ground.

Seriously, I wish westerners would stop burying their heads in the sand. A clash of civilizations is coming, and if the west continues its policy of willful blindness, it is doomed. Anyhow, enough geopolitics and back to the story. I paid careful attention to Manny and Beth's facial expressions once I revealed my identity. Would they judge me or accept me? The media shapes popular opinion and most people blindly believe everything they see on CNN. Word of the day? Israel is bad and Palestine is good. Never mind that Israeli doctors risk their lives every day to save the lives of Arab patients who hate them with every fiber of their being.

Since we know the world hates us, we Israelis always keep our guard up, even when dealing with potential new friends. Manny and Beth seemed cool, and amazingly enough, we ended up talking about the differences between Judaism and Christianity. Phew. I was dreading questions about Israeli policy and all kinds of shit. My new pals were Orthodox Christians. I grew up in a secular Jewish household so I'm not that religious.

To me, religion is important but it's also secondary. Character and personality matter more. Faith in God and organized religion are two different things. The God called Yahweh by us Jews, God the Father by Christians and Allah the Beneficent by the Muslims is the same entity. Yet we of the Abrahamic faiths clashed numerous times over our differences. If God is watching any of this, He must shake His head at mankind's folly. This I shared with Manny and Beth, and they agreed. We talked about our studies, and I was quite thrilled when I found out Manny was studying civil engineering, same as me. Beth is studying criminology. She wants to be a cop or lawyer someday. Good for her. We need more women in male-dominated fields like law enforcement.

Thus I met and befriended Manny and Beth Birru. We added each other on Facebook, and frequently met up on campus whenever we had free time. Beth introduced me to her boyfriend Elias Abdullah, a tall, dark-haired guy from Baalbek, Lebanon. I must say, they made a really cute couple. It seems like a lot of people are dating other races across the west. Fascinating stuff, really. I wonder what their families think, especially when questions of culture and faith come up. I didn't mention any of this to Beth, of course. My face read 'happy for you'.

In Israel, mixed dating is still taboo. A lot of Jewish girls have married Arab men in recent times and that's considered taboo. The families of Arab girls who've had relations with Israeli Jewish guys often kill them. Sleeping with the enemy isn't tolerated when you're a member of Team Arabia...unless you're an Arab male and you're doing it for subversive reasons. If you're an Arab guy dating Jewish girls or Christian girls for the purpose of converting them to Islam and 'sticking it' to the Infidels, cool. If you're a Muslim gal dating a Christian guy or, heaven forbid, a Jewish guy, you should keep it to yourself, lest a member of the Ummah get irked and kill you for disobeying their rules.

I've always dated Jewish guys, but there aren't a lot of them in Ottawa. There's a sizeable Arab population here, though. The Arab guys at school are flirtatious as hell, and they don't quit. I'm not giving in, though. At first they'll wine you and dine you, shower you with gifts and then offer you the world. Eventually they'll make you convert to Islam and once you're in their hands, they'll reveal their true face. I read something on Facebook about African-American singer/actress Janet Jackson divorcing her husband, the rich Arab sheikh. Apparently, he does not want her to work or make public appearances. Gee, color me shocked. A Muslim guy who believes women should know their 'place'. Ha! I totally saw that one coming.

If I sound cynical, it's because I grew up in a world where bombings occur daily, where religiously motivated fanatics shoot up day care centers, and you live in constant fear of extermination by hostile nations. Canada is beautiful but it's not the place for me. I can't be a happy-go-lucky and carefree sod like them people. They haven't had their cities bombed, their schools shot up by madmen. There's a certain innocence here that I've never experienced in Israel. Here, they actually believe that people of different racial and cultural groups can get along. I've seen white girls with Aboriginal boyfriends, Canadian Jews with Arab friends, and other unique relationships.

I wish I could embrace this land and what it has to offer, but my reality is different. I became homesick within weeks of arriving in Ottawa. Yes, I miss my homeland, where rockets strike hospitals on a weekly basis, car bombs occur every five minutes and suicide bombers target synagogues almost hourly. It may seem like a mad world to you but to me, it makes sense. The multiculturalism of Canada smacks of extreme naivete to me. I see a lot of Muslim preachers on the streets of Ottawa, handing out literature about Islam. I see Muslim students inviting their non-Muslim friends to Muslim events. Indoctrination, that's how they work.

We're fighting this on a daily basis back home. The Muslims sustained efforts to tear apart Israeli Jewish society from within. Not only are they breeding at an alarming rate ( Muslim guys are allowed multiple wives, us Jewish folks believe in monogamy ) but they're actively trying to convert Jewish citizens, especially young Jewish women, to Islam. There is no greater threat to the future of Israel as a nation-state than this. Compared to that, even a nuclear Iran takes a backseat. I'm far away from home but I haven't forgotten where I came from or who I am. I'm not giving in to the enemy, even if he wears a charming, smiling place.

I feel alone in Ottawa, but I've committed to spending a full year at Carleton University so I can't pack up and leave now. I feel my blood boil when I see campus students talking about Israeli Apartheid, something they know nothing about. A law-abiding Arab individual living in Israel has a right to education and social advancement just like any Jewish citizen. That's democracy at work for you. How do Palestinians treat non-Muslims in their midst? Maybe those Canadians and Americans who love these people so much should walk around Gaza with crosses around their necks. They'd be dead within seconds.

I didn't make many friends on this liberal campus, not with my blunt honesty, national pride and stern mindset. So it was that I found myself in the library, typing away at a computer. In one of my electives, Political Science 101, we got into a heated discussion about religious accommodation within the context of Canada. Personally, I don't think burkas should be worn in public. Hijab is okay but no burkas, thank you. Of course I stated that in class, and a hijab-wearing Arab gal got pissed and called me a Zionist tool. I pointed to the Star of David hanging around my neck and told her I am a proud Israeli. A classroom-wide shouting match erupted, and I landed in the Dean's office.

Yeah, as you can see, I wasn't having the best of days. Guess who sat next to me and made it all better? Ammanuel "Manny" Birru. The handsome young Ethiopian gently tapped me on the shoulder, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin. Hello Salome, he said evenly. I smiled at him, and motioned for him to sit at the computer terminal next to mine. Manny logged on, and then tried to do some work but he couldn't...not with me next to him. I was a wreck. Talk to me, Manny said, his soulful pale brown eyes boring into mine.

I looked at him, this charming, affable young Ethiopian immigrant. Manny, my only friend on campus. His sister Beth has cooled toward me lately, I suspect her Lebanese boyfriend Elias might have something to do with it. We used to hang out often and now all of a sudden, we don't talk, text or Facebook. Weird how that happens, eh? Manny and I talked about that, among other things. We were getting loud and a tall, dark-haired gal working for the library shushed us. So Manny and l left our stuff at our seats and went downstairs at Starbucks for a quick bite.

Sitting with Manny over coffee and sandwiches helped me unwind nicely. The tall, handsome young Ethiopian Christian scholar was easy to talk to. Looking me in the eye, he told me that he wouldn't be much of a friend if he didn't tell me the awful truth. Crossing my arms, I looked at Manny tensely. Hesitantly, he began by telling me that someone as beautiful and intelligent as me should give life in Canada a chance before passing judgement. This place is hostile to me because of my faith and nationality, I said defensively.

Manny shook his head. I endure far more prejudice than you every day but I still believe in the human race, he said with a sad little smile. When those words left Manny's mouth, I was speechless. Honestly, I was ready to rebuff Manny's statement but the look of almost elemental pain in his eyes stopped me. Manny continued, going on and on about the casual, everyday racism with which white Canadians treated people of color, especially African newcomers.

As Manny spoke, I saw his shoulders sag, and for a moment, he looked drained. Gently I touched his knee. It's okay, I said gently. Manny looked at me, started to speak, but stopped. You're not the only one who suffers injustice, he added quietly. All I could do was nod and look at him. I'm sorry for what you must go through, I said, sincerely. Manny looked at me and smiled. Gently he touched my hand. As long as we don't let the haters get to us they haven't won, Manny said confidently. I nodded and raised my nearly empty coffee cup to that. Amen, I grinned.

Manny and I left Starbucks and rode the elevator back to the library's third floor where our bags and stuff waited. Yeah, we didn't get a lot of work done that night but our friendship definitely deepened. I went home with a smile on my face. Finally, there's someone in Ontario, Canada, who actually gets 'me'. So what if Manny isn't Jewish? He's still cute and very smart. Christians are okay. My mother is Christian, you know. The next day, when Manny invited me to an event the African Students Club were hosting downtown next Saturday, I happily accepted. It's not a date, alright? Just two healthy, attractive, intelligent young people hanging out together. There'll be music, drinking and dancing, and that's okay. Got to live a little, you know?