Aber Kawas becomes first Palestinian American elected to New York State Legislature

Aber Kawas has won her bid for the New York State Senate District 12 seat, taking a 75 percent share of the votes with 90 percent of the votes counted when the race was called by the New York Times. Kawas has made history as the first hijab-wearing Palestinian American to serve in the New York State Legislature. She joins a small list of Palestinian Americans to ever be elected at the state level across the US. Kawas posted a short message to X after the victory saying, "We made history". "Fund dignity, fight destruction" was the slogan Kawas campaigned with. "Fund dignity" refers to her stance on healthcare for all, fast and reliable public transportation, and affordable housing. "Fight destruction" refers to her positions on stopping climate change, protecting immigrants and her "No money for war" stance. Kawas is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, a group that has made unprecedented gains since its member Zohran Mamdani won the historic mayoral race in New York City last year. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters She was among the growing slate of Democratic Socialists of America candidates that ran in this cycle. Many progressive Democrats endorsed Kawas, including Mamdani, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. Her win reflects the growing footprint of the pro-Palestine community within the US political landscape. 'Not On Our Dime' Before entering politics, Kawas spent more than 15 years as an organiser fighting for workers' rights, immigrant communities, and Palestinian rights. Last month, Kawas told Middle East Eye that in 2023 she was part of a coalition of activists looking to work at a local level of government to disrupt funding that supports the Israeli state and its military occupation of Palestine. Trump says US will end $4bn annual military aid to Israel in 2027 Read More » They discovered several charities in the US that had raised millions of dollars to send Jewish Americans to the occupied West Bank as settlers on Palestinian land in violation of international law. Kawas helped develop and launch the "Not On Our Dime" campaign, which seeks to prohibit New York nonprofits from funding organisations that support Israel's illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories. "It shouldn't be allowed in New York state law for a group that is registered as a charity organisation - which should be collecting money to help people - to take that money and commit human rights atrocities," Kawas told MEE. To introduce the bill, she worked with Mamdani, then a New York City Assembly member, and State Senator Jabari Brisport, who sponsored and authored the bill in May 2023. But due to strong opposition from lawmakers, the legislation titled "Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act" never became a law. "It was interesting to work with then-Assembly member Mamdani because I was sceptical of politicians," Kawas told MEE, explaining that this process and bill inspired her. "It was interesting to work with him as an elected official and see how he could use that position to do something that was unprecedented. "When we had introduced the Not On Our Dime bill, that had never been done before in New York State; nobody had ever proactively introduced something that was fighting for Palestinian human rights," she said. End collaboration with ICE Kawas was born and raised in Brooklyn to Palestinian parents who immigrated to the US in the 1990s. She said despite her parents being undocumented at the time, she felt accepted in her community. But that sense of safety shifted when Kawas was in the fourth grade, following the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. She described how fear in the New York Muslim community of being surveilled, deported or facing unfounded terror charges was pervasive. Even in elementary school, her classmates began to distance themselves from her. As a child of immigrants, Kawas takes a pro-immigration stance and vows to end New York's collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by passing the New York For All Act, which would prohibit the state and local agencies from cooperating with federal civil immigration enforcement. "I think it's really important to talk about the idea that it destroys entire lives and families. It's not just the one person - oftentimes you will see a story, and the story is two people got picked up by ICE, or one person gets picked up by ICE off the street, and that one person has an entire family around them," she said. Kawas knows all too well the effects of having a family member deported or detained. Her father was deported to Jordan when she was in high school. Kawas explained to MEE how her dad's detention and ultimate deportation affected her family. "Having someone taken out of a family unit, in many ways, shifts everything. It shifts our lives economically. We weren't able to have as much money, afford the same things," she said. "Every one of my siblings had to work from a really young age to be able to help my mom afford to take care of us. That's an economic shift and a psychological shift." Palestinian activism Kawas is challenging the status quo of "Progressive except for Palestine" politics. Before the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 and the subsequent genocide in Gaza, when she spoke to elected Democrats about Palestine-related human rights issues, she got little response. "People believed that to have a political career, you couldn't speak for Palestinian human rights, that you could never speak out against the state of Israel; that would be political suicide," she told MEE. While campaigning, she has not shied away from her Palestinian identity. Earlier this year, she was arrested for protesting against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's arrival in New York City at the United Nations General Assembly, where she was among dozens arrested, and later released. US elections: Republicans are betting on Islamophobia to win the midterms Read More » "It felt really meaningful to participate in civil disobedience with other elected officials and politicians," Kawas said. "I grew up in a time period where you just never had an elected official stand up for Palestinian human rights. So, to be amongst the ten or more politicians, at that moment I thought it was really cool. I wish we could have done more. I really wish that Netanyahu never entered the city." Earlier this month, she voiced opposition to a $750,000 deal between the New York Police Department (NYPD) and Israeli surveillance company Cognyte to develop AI-powered mobile phone tracking. "This powerful tool violates the rights of all New Yorkers, giving the police greater ability to track our phones and access sensitive data with little transparency or oversight," Kawas wrote on X. "However, this is about more than just one company or contract. The NYPD has a long history of mass surveillance of Muslim communities, Palestine solidarity activists, and communities of colour, and police departments across the state are sharing AI surveillance data with ICE to aid in the deportation of our immigrant neighbours." Last week, the NYPD backed out of the deal, following backlash from civil rights groups. As a Palestinian who is unabashedly vocal on Palestine, Kawas is the embodiment of shifting political tides. "New Yorkers are asking for a change in the administration. We are actually really hopeful that we have a system of community safety that is actually interested in people's lives and not interested in continuing these patterns of policing that are violent and that are affecting so many New Yorkers," she said.