Issawi Frej

Issawi Frej was born in 1963 in Kafr Qasim

Frej was born in Kafr Qasim in 1963 to a Muslim family, the eldest of 12 children. His grandfather survived the Kafr Qasim massacre by pretending to be dead, and two of his grandfather's brothers were among those killed.

In 1982 he began studying economics and accounting at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he joined the Jewish-Arab student group Campus. He qualified as an accountant in 1991 and worked independently.

He joined Ratz and then Meretz, served on the secretariat of Peace Now and was involved in the Geneva Initiative. After several failed runs starting in 2003, he entered the Knesset in 2013 and was reelected in 2015 and April 2019. In 2018 he became the first Arab Knesset member to speak at a Pride event, in Lod.

In June 2021 he became Minister of Regional Cooperation, the second Muslim minister in Israel after Raleb Majadle, and left the Knesset under the Norwegian law in July 2021. As minister he met Sudan's justice minister and Palestinian leaders. He supports the two-state solution and the Abraham Accords.

He suffered a stroke in February 2022 and announced his retirement from politics in July 2022. Since 2023 he has been a commentator on the Sport Channel. He is married to Nihaya, a teacher, has 7 children and lives in Kafr Qasim.