[EvertonDiehard]

Sophia Salma Shramko, an Israeli Arab and Stanford graduate confidently states, "99% of Israeli Arabs condemn what happened on Israel." Sophia is actively involved in Israeli advocacy and fights against anti-Semitism in the United States. She is the daughter of the late Hussein Alhayib, who was a reconnaissance officer and the first Bedouin Lt. Col. in the IDF.

Sophia Salma says: I am an Israeli Arab. I was born to a Muslim Bedouin family in the north of Israel, in the Galilee. It’s been hard, and painful, to see the violence on the streets of Israel. "We are truly falling behind in the narrative war. It's shocking to witness what's happening here: from Stanford to other campuses across the United States, there are calls for violence against Jews and the annihilation of the Jewish state 'from the river to the sea.'

As a Muslim women, I am being targeted for condemning Hamas. It's hard for them to witness a Muslim woman voicing her thoughts, especially when she's speaking the truth. Israel for me is the place that has given me equal rights as a woman, and an opportunity for a better future. I come from a Bedouin family and think that if the State of Israel had not been established, I would probably be an illiterate shepherd in an arranged marriage to my cousin.

Instead, I am a tech entrepreneur with a master’s degree from Stanford University. Of course, all of this was obtained with dedication and hard work, but Israel made it possible. Living in Israel allowed me to go into fashion modelling, despite receiving death threats from my uncle for dishonouring our family; both of us knew that I was protected by the nation’s laws. So, thank you Israel for the compulsory education law that forced parents to send girls to school, and thank you for the excellent schools and universities.

Thank you for the justice system and the welfare services allowing women to dare and live their dreams, thank you for the social benefits that allow some families to survive, and thank you for the advanced health care and hospitals.

Thank you for the infrastructure of roads, water and electricity (my mother as a child walked miles with a donkey to fetch water, so nothing is taken for granted). 

Thank you for the democracy that allows us to make our voices heard. 

Thank you for the economic development that allows us to contribute in high-tech, medicine, science and a variety of other professions. 

Thank you, Israel Defence Forces, for keeping us safe from the shower of rockets and cold-hearted terrorists who would also persecute Arabs like ISIS did in Syria.

And thank you to the deeply kind and warm-hearted people of Israel who will always have your back.

Thank you, my beloved country.