If Mazi Melesa Pilip gets elected on Tuesday, February 13, in a special election to fill the George Santos vacancy, she will achieve many firsts. She will be the first Black Jew ever to be elected to Congress. She will be the first American-Israeli woman ever to be elected to Congress. She will be the first Black of Ethiopian extraction to be elected to Congress. If elected, she will be the only Black Republican woman in Congress. There are presently five Black Republican men in both houses: Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, Burgess Owens of Utah, Wesley Hunt of Texas, and John James of Michigan.
Firsts aside, Mazi presently is a two-term Legislator in Nassau County’s 10th District. In her first election in 2021, she beat a four-term Democratic incumbent. She is chairwoman of the Nassau County Legislature Township, Villages, and Cities Committee, and Vice Chairwoman of its Health and Social Services Committee.
Mazi grew up in poverty in war-torn Ethiopia. Miraculously, she was saved in 1991 at the age of 12 by Israel’s daring and covert airlift of over 14,000 Jewish Ethiopians, code-named “Operation Solomon.” The incredible undertaking took just 36 hours. She has three sisters living in Israel. She served in the IDF’s Paratrooper Corps. She met her husband, who is an American-Ukrainian Jew from a family of Holocaust survivors, in Israel while he was a medical student at the Technion. He became a cardiologist and they moved to Great Neck in 2005. They are Orthodox Jews with seven children.
Sam Nahmias, Chairman Commissioner of the Nassau County Bridge Authority, hosted Mazi recently and said, “Getting Mazi elected is not a maybe; it’s a must! Mazi must be the beginning of the anti-“Squad.” We need someone in Congress who will not back down and will represent international interests including Israel. Mazi came from a very humble beginning and was brought to Israel as a child from Ethiopia. She served in the IDF and knows good and well what Israel goes through.”
She is running for Congress in New York’s Third Congressional District. This encompasses Oyster Bay Cove, Old Brookville, Levittown, Glen Cove, Roslyn, Manhasset, Plainview, Bethpage, Port Washington, Hicksville, Jericho, Syosset, Mineola, Farmingdale, Massapequa Park, Great Neck, Little Neck, Whitestone, Glen Oaks, Floral Park, and Queens Village.
In Israel, Mazi was at the head of the Ethiopian Student Union for two years. She received her master’s degree in Diplomacy and Security from Tel Aviv University. In January of this year, she was quoted by the JTA: “I was a voice of so many young kids who wanted equal opportunity, and really my main focus was especially education, because I do believe through education you can achieve a lot and you can integrate into society.”
Mazi Melesa Pilip is the total package. Given her profound background, she understands the plight of all. She will make her mark in America. She has a bright future. America needs her more than ever.
Joseph M. Frager is a physician and lifelong activist.
