Jassem Al-Kharafi was born in Kuwait City in 1940, the son of Mohammed Abdul Mohsen Al-Kharafi, the founder of M. A. Kharafi & Sons.

Al-Kharafi was elected Speaker of the National Assembly in 1999. He was reelected as Speaker in all elections after until deciding that he would not stand for reelection in the 2012 National Assembly elections. This was due to Al-Kharafi wanting to focus on the family business after the death of his brother Nasser Al-Kharafi. Ahmed Al-Sadoun succeeded him as Speaker of the National Assembly.

On July 13, 2008, Al-Kharafi publicly accused the West of provoking Iran on the nuclear issue. In his interview with state-owned Kuwait TV, Al-Kharafi said, “What is happening is that there are provocative Western statements, and Iran responds in the same way… I believe that a matter this sensitive needs dialogue not escalation, and it shouldn’t be dealt with as if Iran were one of America’s states.”

On July 1, 2008, Al-Kharafi criticized the assembly’s human rights committee for holding a meeting with US embassy officials without asking permission from the speaker in accordance with protocol rules. Khorafi blamed the US embassy for committing a “procedural mistake” by accepting an invitation by phone, insisting that “the embassy should have told the committee that such meetings could not be arranged through this way and should have followed the right diplomatic procedures.”

The meeting occurred on June 30, 2008, to discuss the latest US State Department report that accorded Kuwait a tier three status on trafficking in people for its treatment of domestic helpers and foreign workers. Later, the head of the committee, Waleed Al-Tabtabai, said the meeting was held on the basis of a request by the embassy and that the committee has not “overstepped the authorities of the speaker or the foreign ministry,” adding that the committee had received similar requests in the past.