The real-life adventures of Ishmael Khaldi started 38 years ago in a two-room tent in a small Bedouin village with no running water or electricity.
These humble beginnings make him feel even more proud that he grew to travel the world and serve his country as its first Bedouin Muslim diplomat.
“Growing up in a tent doesn’t mean you can’t reach San Francisco and be a diplomat — it means the sky’s the limit,” Khaldi said during a phone interview from Tel Aviv, where he now lives. “If you want to achieve something, of course you are able, but you have to invest.”
Khaldi grew up in Khawalid, near the Galilee in Israel’s north, and eventually grew up to work for Israel’s foreign service, spending more than two years in San Francisco as the vice consul general.
His rise from the village to the streets of New York to the hills of San Francisco is chronicled in Khaldi’s new memoir, “A Shepherd’s Journey: The Story of Israel’s First Bedouin Diplomat.”
He began writing the book in 2009 while in the hills of Marin County — a place, he writes in his memoir, that reminds him of the Galilee.
“People all over wanted to hear my story, they were always talking to me about it all the time. So after a while I said, I can’t be everywhere, yet I still want to spread my story and the story of Israel,” Khaldi said.
So he started writing.
The result is a 130-page earnest and candid account of Khaldi’s childhood, college years and diplomatic experience.
“Being a spokesman for Israel is simply another way of defending my country, which is the mission and pleasure of my life,” he writes in his memoir.
From October 2006 to January 2009, Khaldi lived near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. As the vice consul general, he spoke at universities, churches and community centers. He spoke in Berkeley and in Redding. He often celebrated Shabbat with Chabad of S.F.
“The best times I ever had in San Francisco were Shabbat dinners at Rabbi Yosef Langer’s house,” Khaldi writes.
Even though he is not Jewish, those evenings were joyful because they reminded him of the hospitality of his homeland.
“Bedouin culture is very open. No invitations are needed to visit,” Khaldi writes. “Yet I found that here in America, you needed to make a plan, make a date, RSVP in advance. How odd, strange and alienating. Only with my friends at Chabad did I feel I was welcome at any time.”
Khaldi spends a lot of the book telling humorous stories from his childhood and about his first trip to New York — where he arrived with only a basic understanding of English and the [no longer correct] phone number of a friend.
Luckily, someone told him to go to Crown Heights, Brooklyn. But while waiting for his train in the subway, he realized he was on the wrong platform.
Instead of going back up the stairs and down to the other side, he simply ran across the tracks. He later found out just how dangerous that shortcut was. The illustration on the cover of his book pays homage to his innocent mistake.
In Brooklyn, Khaldi connected with a Chassidic family who happily hosted him for a few weeks until he found a place to stay.
His endearing personal stories are complemented by political insights and observations based on his experience as the vice consul general.
“Do Israel’s Arab citizens suffer from disadvantages? Yes they do,” he writes. “Do African Americans and other minorities living 10 minutes from the [U.C.] Berkeley campus suffer from disadvantages? The answer is also an emphatic, ‘yes.’ So should we launch a Berkeley Apartheid Week? Or should we seek real ways to better our societies and make opportunities available to more people?”
Since leaving the Bay Area last year, Khaldi has been working in Israel’s foreign service under Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
In October, he will return to the Bay Area as part of a North American speaking tour.
“I am a Bedouin. We are used to moving, relocating. It’s in my blood,” Khaldi said. “I loved San Francisco, and I miss San Francisco. I was sad to leave not just the place, but the people I connected with. They were unbelievable. I still feel I am part of the place there. I became part of their lives.”
“A Shepherd’s Journey: The Story of Israel’s First Bedouin Diplomat” (130 pages, $21). Visit ishmaelkhaldi.com
You definitely have your head on straight! Wish more people would start thinking like you! Keep up the great work you are doing!!!!!
your biggest fan!
TO ALL YOU SQUARE, NARROW MINDED PEOPLE OUT THERE TALKING NON-SENSE, ISHMAEL IS A SHINING EXAMPLE TO HIS BRETHREN ON HOW ONE MUST BEHAVE. HE IS A FIERCE ADVOCATE FOR ERETZ YISROEL AND SOLELY PROMOTES THE CONTINUATION OF THE PROTECTING YIDDEN AND ERETZ YISROEL. WHOM EVER TALKS BAD ABOUT WITH OUT EVEN KNOWING HIM OR WHAT HE DOES IS IMMATURE, UNEDUCATED, NARROW, MINDED AND NEEDS TO DO LOTS OF TESHUVSAH. WE NEED TO GET OUR FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU GO AND TALK BAD PUBLICLY ABOUT SOMEONE, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE HELPING YIDDEN!!! ONE SHOULD NOT TALK JUST REACT COMPULSIVELY WITHOUT… Read more »
and listen to tonight’s interview on the Aaron Klein show podcast with a righteous gentile( the son of Hamas founder Ahmed Yusef) , who explained how he saved the shedding of Jewish blood(including Shimon Peres and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.) He will tell you about the Muslim faith and why he believes the way he does. Fascinating stuff. You can fast forward through the first twenty minutes or so. It might just blow your mind.
I have a friend i knew for 31 years,is a Assistant,for the CEO,at MICROSOFT.She is a Goim,and hes a Muslim,but a wonderful person,a Engineer,who bosses 75 people for 18 years at MICROSOFT. BTW,i get Software,and i Donate it to CHABAD,to a Rabbi. Stop and Think,Loose Lips Sinks Ships.Who writes a Goy,is A Goy,is a Goy? State your name. How Pathetic. Hasheem,put all people on Earth to be kind,and have Respect. I had two Jews,who raised me,and had a boys home,to help incarcerated Juveniles.They did Mitvahs,to HELP, Jews,and others,of other faiths..
JT
If he is doing his best, why do us jews have hatred, just because he’s a goim?
Remember, Chabad in Portland, Oregon has members who converted to Judiasm. Please respect the ones that go to my chabad,with the greatest mench, Rabbi Moshe Wilhelm. He lifts mountains, and is the kindest rabbi on this earth.
Jeffrey Tobias,
Portland Chabad rocks.
Seems like no one ever heard of a ritious gentile. There are some poeple out there who like and respect Jewish people, but still remain true to thier own religion.
The Bedouins tasted life under Arab and under Jewish rule, and they see the difference. (think Sini desert ) If you speak to and Bedouins in Israel you always hear the same thing.
to the many people who say a goy is a goy etc…
then why did the Rebbe tell us to be involved with Sheva Mitzvos if this is true.
Arabs do not equal Amalek. We don’t know who Amalek is until Moshiach comes
Yes, we should always regard Arabs with suspicion, but our position is not that they are all inherently evil (if so, why, once again, the emphasis on Sheva Mitzvos.) just that they should not be indulged or trusted.
The Druze also claim to be descended from Yitro and claim to be Bnai Noach and keep the 7 laws.and related to the Persian Greek( Hittites in the Torah) -Arabic loosely Moslem,but tend to join with whoever is a winner.Arab nationalists in Israel persecute Druze. Beduins are nomadic Arab desert tribes and have no connection what so ever with Druze.
Thanx. I give credit where due. You’re right it is the Druze. I simply mixed them up.
#11
Chabad in SF is great- my favorite place is with Rabbi Aaron Hecht- another Chabad Shliach in SF.
Yitzchok in Pitsburgh
esov soneh l’yaakov, Rashi says this is a generel rule that they hate us, that does not mean we have to hate back, just that we have to be careful and be on guard all the time.
This MK member is a very dedicated member who cares a lot for Israel moreso than some Jews so lets not make a blank statement on all Druze people.
they are actually called druze. 🙂 but nice try!
I have worked with them picking fruit. One day, at lunch at my house , a man who liked me offered me his daughter in marriage. I innocently acquiesced m in a very friendly way,explaining that iy was not allowed. The next day she pulled out a knife and waived it at me from the back seat of the car she was in on her way home. My grandfather told us first hand stories very similar to number nine. They do fight in the army,and are good trackers. Respect and always suspect
You know there is something called a drew. have u ever heard of that? clearly not. AND THEY DO EXIST!
actually it’s the druze who are patriotic, Bedouin are patriotic to themselves
like my father use to say..”A goy is a goy is a goy”!!!!!!!!!!!!
How much more so about the inborn hatered of every arab.
Most show it openly, some hide it well.
Let us never forget!
Bedouins in any country are fervently patriotic to that country.
Bedouins in Israel are no different. They contribute to the economy and also the army (believe it or not). They are much like the American Indians here.
I am very sorry that you feel that way. Yes, in some cases you must be careful not to trust people because hatred takes over sanity. But, in this case it is obvious that you have no reason not to trust this man. Ismail is a very nice man and you should fear not for this man is not anti-Jews. Many Arabs are dangerous, but not all! Some Arabs are good hearted, honest people, NOT MURDERERS! Because of their brethren they have a bad name, but that happens in a religions, even Judaism! Ismail is one of those people, and… Read more »
They are absolutely correct. I know stories personally of “wonderful” arabs who have a fantastic relationship with a jew and then after 15 years of this relationship, the arab flips out and decides to kill the jew – these things happen. The torah says we will always be at war with Amalek.
go crawl back in to your cave
As someone who lived in a moslem country for many years I can tell you this much that they hate us eventhough they might not show it in surface in their heart they are full of hatred for jews
to # 1. is that how your mother taught you to speak?
to # 4. so do the chasidim who don’t join the army and march against the state of israel.
You’re dumb.
you are right. thebaduim are building every were not leagly and get a lot of money from the goverment for free college
and free everything,
Ismail is a great guy, he was at our Chabad House.
Sorry, an arab is an arab, I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could spit.