Days before the deadline to submit candidate lists for Israeli parliamentary elections, the Joint List — a coalition of Arab-dominated parties — faces internal crisis over sexual harassment allegations against Jafar Farah, its second-ranked candidate, who denies the claims and refuses to withdraw from the race.
Two women's rights organisations, Women Against Violence and al-Sawwar, a feminist Arab movement, launched a campaign demanding that harassers step down. The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, the party that nominated Farah, subsequently established an internal review panel. According to the women's groups, the panel's report recommended that Farah either withdraw his candidacy or provide a detailed public statement addressing the allegations. No police complaints or formal investigations into the allegations have been filed, the sources noted.
Farah rejected the recommendation, calling it unfair. In social media posts and media interviews, he denied the allegations, characterised them as unjust mob justice, and said he was willing to apologise to anyone he may have wronged. The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality and the Communist Party of Israel issued a joint statement calling on Farah to consider withdrawing and, if he did not, to provide a clear personal response addressing the allegations directly.
The two women's organisations said their documented records contained six direct testimonies of sexual harassment and assault by Farah, describing different patterns of misconduct and abuse of power. Some testimonies were published in 2019, while others remain in the organisations' internal records. The groups said they first approached the Democratic Front's leadership on June 24, 2024, to brief senior party officials on the seriousness of the matter, presenting sample testimonies while protecting the women's identities.
The women's organisations said their role is to listen, protect, and support accusers and to convey testimonies to responsible authorities, not to act as judges or investigators. They rejected characterisations of their work as smear campaigns or accusations of disloyalty, saying such framing undermines efforts to defend and protect women.
