The First Actual Palestinian-American in Congress (and He Was Jewish)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The First Actual Palestinian-American in Congress (and He Was Jewish)
By Vic Rosenthal, The Jewish Press, January 10, 2019
John Krebs Passport Photo
{Originally posted to the Abu Yehuda website}
Rashida Tlaib is being called the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress. There have also been several congressmen claiming Palestinian descent: Justin Amash who represents Michigan’s 3 rd Congressional District, and John E. Sununu, who served in the House from 1997-2003.
But did you know that there was a Palestinian-American in the House long before any of them, who was in fact the only one who was actually a citizen of “Palestine,” and who had a Palestinian passport?
And that he was Jewish?
First, a word about what “Palestinian” means.
There have been between three political entities that could be called “Palestine:” the first was a Roman province created when the Romans joined what was formerly called Judea to Roman Syria and called it “ Syria Palaestina ,” in order to irritate the Jews left alive after they sacked Jerusalem. That didn’t stick, and Judea went back to being called Judea.
Then there was the British Mandate for Palestine , which existed from 1923 to 1948, and encompassed several provinces of the former Ottoman Empire. It was replaced by the State of Israel.
Finally there is today’s Palestinian Authority , which was created by the Oslo Accords, and governs some 95% of the Arabs in Judea and Samaria, and theoretically all of Gaza. It is not a state and cannot issue legal passports.
John Krebs’ Palestinian passport. Note stamp near the bottom indicating that he was a Palestinian citizen
John Hans Krebs z”l (born Hans Joachim Krebs in Berlin, Germany, in 1927) moved to Mandatory Palestine with his parents in 1933. As a young man he served in the pre-state Hagana, and then came to the US to study law at the University of California at Berkeley in 1946, when he was almost 20. He got his law degree in 1950, served in the US Army from 1952-54, and received US citizenship in 1954. He also married his wife, Hanna in that year.
John held several political jobs in Fresno, California in 1965-74. He was elected to Congress from California’s 17 th district as a Democrat in 1974, and served until 1979.
John was simply the nicest guy you could ever meet, soft-spoken, but very intelligent and knowledgeable; not at all a typical politician. I can’t imagine what he would have thought about Rashida Tlaib’s vulgar remark about the president. Although I suspect John thought I was a bit extreme politically, he always had a big smile for me.
And he was the first actual Palestinian-American member of Congress.
Thanks to Yisrael Medad and of course Hanna Krebs.
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Not all Palestinians are bad people. Unfortunately if they try to normalize relations with Israelis they get into trouble - in fact BIG trouble if they sell property to Jews.
The Palestinian-American referred to in the latter link arranged property sales, and he's lucky - the penalty could have been a death sentence.
Dear Brother Buzz: There has been a continued Jewish presence in the Middle East, Israel included for close to six thousand years.
Since Parshat Lech Lecha, when Avraham Avenu the first patriarch was given the initial of the 613 commandments, to "Get up, go out of the land of your forefathers (Ur Chasdin - Ur of the Chaldees) and go to this land that I promised you" (Israel) there have always been Jewish People in Israel and Jerusalem.
Think Samech Tet (Tzapharadee Tahor).
Great job Buzz.
The more we share, the more we all know as a community.
And the truth shall set us free.
Enoch.
Arafat the Egyptian, if he were alive, and Abbas and Hanayah (sp?) would take a fit if they saw this article.
Good!
E.
This was an interesting little fact. With regard to Ms. Tlaib's language, I thought the exact same thing. I thought they didn't use that type of language. It caught me off guard when I heard the report about it.
Anyhow, thanks for sharing this.
Interesting information, thanks Buzz.
Palestinians have been in that region for more than 2,000 years..
First mentioned by the Greeks 2500 years ago. More commonly translated in the OT as the Philistines or the Sea people from Egypt to the Euphrates,
a part of Syria, but distinguished as
'Syrians of Palestine".