Hiba Hamdi Abu Sayyaf has become a star in the Israeli media ever since millions of Egyptians first took to the streets in protest. Just about every media outlet in the country has courted her and begged her to interpret, explain, describe, and provide the Israeli public with a firsthand report about what is happening in her homeland. Hiba, who manages customer relations for a computer company in Cairo, is more than happy to comply. Her fluent Hebrew is peppered with contemporary slang, and she speaks so effortlessly that she could be mistaken for someone born and raised in Tel Aviv.
“I studied Hebrew at Cairo University, but I didn’t really like the language for the first two years,” she said in a conversation with Al-Monitor. “I wanted to study Farsi, but my mother, may she rest in peace, insisted that I learn Hebrew. It was hard for me. I failed two courses: Ancient Hebrew, and Spoken Hebrew. It was an absolute disaster. If I failed another class, I’d have to repeat my second year of college. So I went to the professor and asked him to help me. I wanted to talk like an Israeli, to imitate the accent of native Hebrew speakers. My mother bought me a satellite dish, and I kept watching Israeli television: Channel 2, Channel 10, Channel 1. I even watched the Knesset Channel.”
