Avraham Abaas

Avraham Abaas was born in 1912 in Damascus

Abaas was born in Damascus in 1912. He studied at a Hebrew school there and helped found the local branch of the HeHalutz movement. In 1929 he moved to the Land of Israel and joined kibbutz Kfar Giladi.

From 1931 to 1934 he worked as an emissary in Syria and Lebanon and encouraged immigration from both countries. Back in the country he worked in construction. In 1941 he was sent again to Syria and Lebanon to help organize illegal immigration.

In 1944 he was elected to the Assembly of Representatives for Ahdut HaAvoda and served on the Jewish National Council. In 1949 he joined the Histadrut executive committee and worked among Mizrahi immigrants and in transit camps. In 1951 he was elected to the directorate of the Sephardi Communities Association, and he helped found the journal Shevet VeAm.

In 1955 he was elected to the Knesset and sat on the Interior Committee and the House Committee. In 1958 he published a detailed document on inequality between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim, covering immigrant camps, education and military service. He died suddenly on 17 September 1958, and Yerahmiel Assa took his seat. A street in Tel Aviv is named after him.