18 Facts About Tawfik Toubi

Tawfik Toubi was a Mandatory Palestine-born Israeli Arab communist politician.

Tawfik Toubi was the last surviving member of the first Knesset.

Tawfik Toubi was married to Olga Touma and one of his sons, Elias Toubi, studied medicine in Leningrad.

Tawfik Toubi is the second longest-serving Knesset member of all time, over 41 years of office, all consecutive.

Tawfik Toubi joined the Palestine Communist Party in 1941 and later was one of the founders of the League for National Liberation, which originally opposed partition of Palestine but later came to accept it, after the Soviet Union indicated that it would support partition.

Tawfik Toubi was elected to the Knesset in Israel's first elections in 1949 as a member of Maki.

Tawfik Toubi was re-elected in 1951,1955,1959 and 1961.

Tawfik Toubi served as Hadash's secretary-general from 1989 to 1993, and was elected to the Knesset on Hadash's list in 1977,1981,1984 and 1988, before resigning from the Knesset in July 1990 and being replaced by Tamar Gozansky.

Tawfik Toubi was publisher and editor of Arab language Communist paper Al Ittihad.

Tawfik Toubi retired from the Knesset in 1990, after a 41-year tenure, and died on 12 March 2011, at age 88.

Tawfik Toubi is remembered as one of the two MKs who exposed the Kafr Qasim massacre, and is seen by the Israeli left as a fighter against racism.

Tawfik Toubi is regarded as father of the 'state of all its citizens' formula, which he brought up when the Knesset debated the Basic Law in 1985.

Tawfik Toubi is seen less favorably by the Israeli right, although he is remembered as more of a respected adversary than a militant anti-Zionist.

Tawfik Toubi raised the issue of the right of return for Palestinian refugees on at least two occasions in the Knesset.

In 2012, the discourses and articles of Tawfik Toubi were published in Israel by his wife Olga and his son Elias.

Tawfik Toubi is accepted, honored and rewarded by the Israeli establishment.

Tawfik Toubi was a valued and impressive parliamentarian that left his mark on the Israeli parliament.

Tawfik Toubi was a member of a confronting movement but nevertheless insisted on respecting the rules of the game and knew how to apply them to himself in practice.