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Saturday, May 16, 2026
Hadash picks activist Jafar Farah for No. 2 spot, reelects MK Ofer Cassif as No. 3
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
The Arab-majority Hadash party elects human rights activist Jafar Farah and MK Ofer Cassif to the second and third spots on its Knesset slate in internal primaries held in the Lower Galilee town of Deir Hanna.
Former MK Yousef Jabareen was elected earlier today to lead the party, replacing outgoing chairman Ayman Odeh.
Farah, who heads the Mossawa rights group, will replace Hadash No. 2 MK Aida Touma-Sliman — who doesn’t seek reelection after 11 years in the Knesset — after defeating Nasreen Morqos and former Kafr Yasif mayor Shadi Shweiri.
In 2019, a police officer was indicted for allegedly beating Farah and breaking his knee following his arrest at a Gaza solidarity protest in Haifa the previous year.
Cassif was again picked for the third slot on Hadash’s electoral slate, traditionally reserved for a Jewish candidate, after defeating party activist Noa Levy. He was the only one of the three current Hadash MKs to seek reelection, after both Odeh and Touma-Sliman announced they would step down.
The results also leave Hadash, which has traditionally emphasized female representation as part of its platform, without a woman among its top three candidates for the first time in more than a decade.
The Times of Israel Community.