TEL AVIV – The niece of a senior official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and a close confidant of the late leader Yasser Arafat said she loves the State of Israel so much she had the word “Israel” in Hebrew tattooed on her shoulder.
Born a Muslim in Ramallah and raised in Saudi Arabia, Sandra Solomon, 38, changed her name and moved to Canada where she converted to Christianity, an act her family roundly denounced.
Solomon is the niece of the late Saher Habash, one of the founders of the Fatah party and a member of its Central Committee who led the Second Intifada of Palestinian suicide bombings against Israel.
“I grew up in a home that hated the Jews, hailed Hitler and praised the Holocaust,” she told Channel 2 in an interview Wednesday.
Solomon, who since became an activist on behalf of Israel, expressed her hope that Jews around the world would forgive her for the abuse she directed at Jewish people when she was younger.
Solomon wears a Star of David pendant around her neck and has another tattoo on her arm of the word “Jesus” in Hebrew above a menorah.
“The [forced wearing of the] hijab is the main reason I left Islam … and also because of the way of life under Islamic Sharia law,” she told Channel 2.
Solomon said her “dream, one day, is to come to Israel, to fly the flag and salute it.”
“The State of Israel was created not to be erased but to stay,” she added.
Solomon said that if her uncle were alive to see her today, he would certainly lead a smear campaign against her.
“I stand behind what I say and I will tell the truth even if it leads to my death one day. I will at least know that I’ve had the honor to die for the truth,” she said.