Politicsתופיק טובי

Tawfik Toubi

Tawfik Toubi was an Israeli Arab communist politician who served in the Knesset from 1949 to 1990.

1922 to 2011Over 41 years in the KnessetExposing the Kafr Qasim massacreFounding Rakah

Born: 11 May 1922, Haifa
Died: 12 March 2011, Haifa
Occupation: politician
Party: Maki
Education: Bishop Gobat School
Founded: Maki (1965)

Tawfik Toubi was born in 1922 in Haifa

Toubi was born in Haifa in 1922 to an Arab Orthodox family. His parents were Elias and Alice. He studied at the Mount Zion School in Jerusalem.

After his father died in 1941, he helped support his family and gave up university studies. He joined the Palestine Communist Party and later helped found the National Liberation League. From 1943 to 1948 he worked in the public works department of the Mandate government.

In 1949 he was elected to the first Knesset for Maki, and he edited the Arabic party paper Al Ittihad. In 1956, with Meir Vilner, he collected and spread testimony about the Kafr Qasim massacre despite military censorship. In 1965 he was among the founders of Rakah after a split in Maki.

He later served in the Knesset for Hadash and was its secretary general from 1989 to 1993. He left the Knesset in July 1990 and was replaced by Tamar Gozansky. He lived in Haifa with his wife Olga and died in 2011.