Haneen Zoabi

Haneen Zoabi has never been married and has no children. She currently lives with her parents.

Haneen Zoabi was born on May 23, 1969 in Nazareth, Israel. Her family is ethnic Arab and practicing members of the Muslim faith.

Zoabi studied psychology and philosophy at the ‘University of Haifa’. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, in 1987.

She also earned a ‘Masters of Arts in Communications’ from the ‘Hebrew University of Jerusalem’ in 1991.

Zoabi started her career teaching mathematics and was then appointed as a school inspector for the Ministry of Education.

She embarked on her political career with the ‘Balad Party’ when she became a member in 2001. Balad is one of the few Arab-centric political parties competing in Israeli elections.

In 2003, she helped establish ‘I'lam’, a non-government organization that calls itself the ‘Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel’. She was soon promoted to general director of the organization.

She ran for parliament, in 2006. Unfortunately, her Balad party did not receive enough votes to be awarded any seats in the parliament

In 2009, Zoabi resigned as the general director of I'lam. In the same year, she successfully ran for parliament. Her election win was symbolic as she became the first female member of Arab descent in the history of Israeli Parliament.

Although close to 2 million ethnic Arabs hold Israeli citizenship, they are represented in the parliament by just 3 out of a total of 120 seats. Zoabi has played the role of Arab crusader ever since she joined politics in the country and has campaigned against polygamy, a custom that some citizens of Israel still practice.

Although some Palestinians have fought for their own state, Haneen and her ‘Balad Party’ officially support a one-state solution for Israel. She has used her education in media communications to start an NGO ‘I’lam’ with the aim to promote the rights of minority Arabs in Israel.