The British-Israeli woman campaigning to defend a West Bank Bedouin village

The daughter of an London East Ender and a Mancunian, she told the JC she made aliyah aged 31 in 1981 with the Zionistic opinions of the “average newcomer” — but ended up living a life that was anything but average. Her politics have meant that some neighbours in Jerusalem have stopped talking to her.

Bedouins have various Jewish advocates in Israel and the diaspora, but Ms Godfrey-Goldstein is unusual because for her, it is very personal: “I fell in love with desert and moved to Sinai and had a relationship with someone who was Bedouin for 20 years.”

During her time there she was involved in environmental cleanups on land and underwater — a far cry both from her life in Israel and her upbringing in England, which included a Sussex public school education.

Ms Godfrey-Goldstein denies being contrary and says she does not see the Middle East conflict as black and white: “I think there are shades of grey and it’s a tragedy for everyone left by foolish politicians.”

She says her commitment to Khan al-Ahmar stems from her belief that Bedouin culture is “being wiped out” and that Israel should not be responsible for this.

She is also convinced that if the village is demolished and the site used for Israeli construction, “you can say goodbye to the two-state solution”, because it would make it hard to set up viable transportation in a future Palestinian state.

Ms Godfrey-Goldstein dismisses people who use phrases like “self-hating” to describe activists like her — their language is ignorant, she says — but remains enamoured with Israelis.

They are, she says, “among the best people you will meet anywhere in the world.”