Everything I Believe In

September 04, 2015 College of Arts and Humanities | Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies | Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies

Meet J Street U's new Muslim president, Amna Farooqi.

Amna Farooqi, the new president of J Street U, the campus branch of the liberal, self-described pro-Israel, pro-peace lobby group, is a Muslim of Pakistani decent.

She has no plans to convert to Judaism, though she does consider herself "culturally Jewish," having grown up in heavily Jewish Montgomery County.

She has long been open about her biography; she gave a keynote speech at J Street's convention this past spring, in which she opened by highlighting her heritage, which makes her Zionism all the more remarkable to some and unbelievable to others.