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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel has sent a delegation of 100 students to represent it in the annual Apartheid Week in South Africa, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.

The report in Maariv noted one unusual participant in this year's delegation -- a 25-year-old Muslim Bushra Khalilieh, a member of Israel's Arab minority in the Galilee.

The newspaper said Khalilieh was attending university in one of South Africa’s university campuses. Khalilieh, who wears a hijab, came to Israel's defense during activities on campus.

"We toured Johannesburg and Cape Town’s campuses and met local students," she said.

"We spoke with them about Israel and I told them about my personal issue as an Arab girl living in Israel. I feel Israel to be my hometown where there’s equality and I have all my rights.”

"When students hear us, they are surprised as there are some who do not even know there are Arabs living in Israel. I, as an Arab Israeli girl, love my country and believe that it seeks peace and respects all its citizens.”

Khalilieh, a masters student at Tel Aviv University, stressed that she represents herself and not the position of the Israeli government.

“I represent myself as a Muslim Arab who lives in Israel as a liberal and free girl unlike other Arab girls who live in Arab countries and do not have the human rights I have like freedom of expression and dignity.”

She added: "There are people who are calling to boycott us and say that there is apartheid in Israel, but I try to show Israel as a country that’s different from what they think."

There is nothing that remotely resembles the past apartheid from SA.

Flying Dutchman wrote:Here is an Arab Israeli (as she calls herself) Muslima

Bora Bora wrote:What is a Muslima? I've never heard that term.

Unfortunately, the way she addresses the issue fuels identity-based division and, potentially, conflict. This is particularly troublesome because Ali's piece received substantial support in social and online media. People began picking sides, ignoring complex realities and facts.

Ali's analysis of the conflicts in Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran and Indonesia is brief, simple and borders on manipulative. Each of these countries is experiencing conflicts that have a range of contributing social, political, economic and cultural factors. Christians are being targeted, as are other groups, including diverse followers of Islam and indigenous peoples. There is nothing new here. Throughout history, members of minority groups, whether religious, racial, economic or otherwise, have been targeted during times of social and political instability.

The loons are a parody on to themselves. They cry "hatemonger" and "Islamophobe" when their treatment of Israel is applied to Muslim nations.