Ishmael Khaldi captivated a small audience Tuesday night at the Fielder Hillel Center with his first words.

“I am not Jewish, and I am not Zionist,” he said. “I am a Muslim, a reformed Muslim, but I am Israeli, too.”

Khaldi, an Israeli Bedouin, said he came to Northwestern to give students and Evanston residents a different perspective on life in Israel.

Students For Israel, which sponsored Khaldi’s lecture, brought Khaldi to campus to “promote Israel and show plurality of opinion,” said David Newman, the group’s Jewish life coordinator.

Bedouins, a minority in the Jewish state, traditionally are nomadic people who live in tents and migrate through the desert.

Khaldi, 41, compared his way of life to that of Native Americans.

“One for all, and all for one,” he said. “A tribe is one family.”

The Bedouins are in the process of making the transition from a “primitive society to a modern way of life,” Khaldi said. Instead of always traveling, Bedouins have begun settling down in the past 30 years, he said.

Khaldi said Bedouins are making positive contributions to Israel, adding that 75 to 80 percent of them serve in the country’s military.

But Khaldi said Bedouins are a misinterpreted and misjudged group. Often labeled uneducated and unemployed, Bedouins are working to move away from those stereotypes, he said.

“Bedouins are realizing that education is key to being a part of Israel and a part of Western society,” said Khaldi, who is currently training to be a diplomat in the Israeli Foreign Service.

He said the biggest struggle facing Bedouins today is holding onto old traditions while adapting to modern culture.

“We try to combine the best of two worlds,” Khaldi said.

Touching briefly on Israel’s volatile political situation, Khaldi defended the country’s military actions in recent months.

“Israel is in a state of trying to defend itself,” he said. “Israel is trying to create a secure situation for all Israelis, Jewish or non-Jewish.”

Weinberg sophomore Leeor Baskin said he enjoyed hearing an Israeli minority talk about his life.

“I think it’s great when someone from Israel can represent the non-Jewish population,” Baskin said. “It’s refreshing to see this different point of view.”