MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash – Joint List) has become the first Arab and communist lawmaker to head a permanent Knesset committee, after having been elected chairperson of the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women and Gender Equality.

Touma-Sliman, a first-term MK in Israel’s recently elected 20th Knesset, is founder of the Arab feminist organization Women against Violence as well as the International Women’s Commission for Just Palestinian-Israeli Peace. She was formerly editor-in-chief of Al-Ittihad, the daily Arabic-language newspaper of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), and is the first woman to serve as a member of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel. For a number of years Touma-Sliman has been a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Israel, and last weekend delegates to the party’s congress re-elected her, in first place, as a member of its Central Committee. Touma-Sliman has also headed the International Affairs Committee of the CPI for some years now.

MK Touma-Sliman at a protest against the “family honor” murder of women held last week in the northern Arab city of Umm al-Fahem (Photo: Al Ittihad)

In response to her unanimous election as chairperson of the Knesset committee which deals with advancing the status of women, MK Touma-Sliman commented: “I hope to successfully lead the formulation of legislation which will affect all of society” and noted that “I have attended sessions of this committee since 1992, when Yael Dayan was chairperson, and I hope that the times spent here will contribute to my ability to lead the committee.” MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) said that the Joint List is proud of having achieved the chair of a permanent Knesset committee, and that the list’s MKs unanimously concurred that, based on her record, Touma-Sliman should lead the panel.