Political causes Touma-Suleiman founded the Arab
feminist group Women Against Violence in 1992, and has been its CEO since its foundation. She joined the
Hadash party, later becoming editor in chief of
Al-Ittihad, an
Arabic language newspaper owned by the
Israeli Communist Party, a faction in Hadash. She also became the first female member of the
High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel. She also co-founded the International Women's Commission for a Just Palestinian–Israeli Peace.
Unsuccessful runs for Knesset seat Aida Touma-Suleiman repeatedly campaigned on the Hadash list for a seat in the Israeli parliament, the
Knesset: in
1992 (placed 47th; Hadash won three seats),
1996 (36th on Hadash-
Balad list; the alliance won five seats),
1999 (28th on Hadash list, again not sufficient),
2009 (fifth on Hadash list, the party won four seats). After contesting the second place on the party's list for the
2013 elections against the incumbent
Hana Sweid, a victory for Sweid meant that she was placed 98th on the party's list.
Knesset member (2015-) Election Prior to the
2015 elections, Hadash joined the
Joint List, an alliance with Balad, the
United Arab List, and
Ta'al. Touma-Suleiman was placed fifth on the candidates list of the Joint List, and was elected to the Knesset as the alliance won 13 seats. She is the fourth Arab-Israeli woman to become a member of the Knesset, following
Hussniya Jabara (
Meretz),
Hanin Zoabi (
Joint List), and
Nadia Hilou (
Labor), and the second Arab-Israeli woman member of the Knesset from a non-Zionist party.
Head of Women's Status Committee In June 2015, she was elected to head the Knesset's Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality. Suleiman was appointed to this position through a unanimous vote. She has attended hearings of the committee since 1992. Suleiman noted that she is planning for cooperative efforts with the
Ministry for Social Equality head,
Gila Gamliel (
Likud), who is also responsible for gender equality.
On Arab world and Israel In an interview with an American Jewish student newspaper in 2016, Suleiman explained that she condemned
Saudi Arabia and other
Gulf nations that support terrorist organizations such as
ISIS. She also spoke of
Hezbollah, Israel, and the current situation: "As a woman living in a place that suffered Hezbollah's bombardment, when there was a need to condemn the bombing of a civilian population, we were the first to do so. And when it was necessary to condemn the Israeli government - we did that too. I believe that this gives us the right to make complex observations, since the situation is complex." In 2019, she was critical of
Arab countries normalizing diplomatic ties with Israel and said it was important for Palestinians to preserve their
Arab identity. In November 2023 she was suspended from the Knesset for two months after accusing the Israel Defense Forces of war crimes.
COVID-19 In 2020, after being reelected to the Knesset during the
COVID-19 pandemic, Touma-Suleiman tweeted a video of a disinfection of a West Bank checkpoint with the commentary, "Another atrocity by the occupation under the cover of the coronavirus — the IDF is spraying Palestinians at the Qalqilya checkpoint with an unknown substance. Everyone agrees the spraying method is not effective in the fight against the virus. The horrors being committed under the cover of the crisis can't be ignored." The video actually showed
Palestinian Authority employees disinfecting the Palestinian side of the checkpoint to combat coronavirus. Yamina MK
Naftali Bennett responded to the tweet with his own tweet calling Touma-Suleiman "a liar, anti-Semitic and contemptible." Touma-Suleiman deleted the tweet and claimed she had been "misled." She added, "At least I have the courage and the integrity to admit mistakes. You continue to callously lie even when the truth is clear."
On Arabic-speaking LGBTQ Israelis In July 2020 Touma-Suleiman expressed support for the
LGBT community in response to a boycott of Al-Arz, an Arab Israeli company very popular for the
tahini it produces, by social conservatives after Al-Arz's CEO,
Julia Zaher donated to
The Aguda – Israel's LGBT Task Force to establish a
crisis hotline for Arabic-speaking LGBTQ Israelis. ==References==