We are excited to announce the publication of a new archival collection: The Alaa Jaza Photographs Collection, 1994-2025. This collection contains 24 photos that document Jaza’s upbringing in Lebanon, his U.S. Army career, and his career as a police officer here in North Carolina.

Alaa Jaza was born on July 2, 1991, in Beirut, Lebanon. He moved to the United States in the early 2010’s with the dream of building a better future. He served in the United States Army and the National Guard and eventually became a U.S. citizen in 2014. He was deployed to Iraq and Jordan and eventually became a police officer in North Carolina. He currently resides in Angier, North Carolina, and is enjoying his career as a police officer at the Angier police department.

“When we came back from the deployment… everybody’s hugging, and guess what? There was nobody there for me. I don’t have my family here, unfortunately. So that was very hard; that’s when you feel it.”

In 2025, he conducted an oral history interview with the Khayrallah Center. The transcript for his interview can be found here: Alaa Jaza Oral History Conducted by John Horan and Lindsey Waldenberg.

Here are a few interesting photos from the collection:

• Alaa Jaza wearing a Lebanese army uniform as a child
• Alaa Jaza poses with a child in his police car
• Alaa Jaza Wake County Sheriff Office Deputy Alaa Jaza Official Portrait

For more info and to see more of the collection, check out the collection in our archive.