Sami Abu Shehadeh is a Palestinian politician based in Jaffa. He is the chairman of the National Democratic Assembly party since August 2022. He served as a member of the Israeli Parliament in the Joint List on behalf of the National Democratic Assembly party from September 2019 until November 2022. In addition, from 2010 till 2013, Abu Shehadeh served as a member of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality Council on behalf of the Jaffa List.

Abu Shehadeh studied History of the Middle East and Political Sciences at Tel Aviv University and specialized in researching the history of Jaffa as an Arab cultural center during the Mandate period. He also studied Career Counseling at Tel Aviv University and Youth Studies at the Tel Aviv-Jaffa College.

Since mid-1990’s Abu Shehadeh was an active member and on the board of several NGOs that worked with the Palestinian minority in Jaffa and within the Arab-Palestinian minority in Israel in general, such as: Darna – the Popular Committee for Housing and Land Rights in Jaffa, Mada Al-Karmel Research Center, The Arab Cultural Association, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

Abu Shehadeh established in 2010 the Jaffa Youth Movement that has been working on empowering Arab-Palestinian youth in Jaffa, developing their national awareness and identity, and preparing high school students for academic careers.