During the British Mandate of Palestine, he was active in the Haganah and later received the Fighter of the State Decoration.

[1] During the Israeli War of Independence, he convinced the Zoubi family to throw their weight behind the Jewish side and not for Fawzi al-Qawuqji's Arab Liberation Army.

In 1949, he was elected to the Knesset as the leader of the Democratic List of Nazareth which was a bloc party of Mapai.

He was re-elected for a final time on the United Arab List slate in 1977, before resigning his seat on 3 April 1979.

[6] Historian Hillel Cohen wrote that el-Zoubi was "upgraded" by Mapai in exchange for relinquishing national demands and legitimizing land confiscations.