After an agreement was signed on Sunday with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is believed to be the next prime minister, one of the most far-right politicians in the Knesset will be the head of “Jewish identity” in the next government. This person holds non-pluralist Jewish views and views that are anti-LGBT, sexist, and anti-Arab.
The sole member of the fringe Noam party, Avi Maoz, will be elevated to the position of deputy minister and will lead a newly established authority for Jewish identity that will be housed within the Prime Minister’s Office.
Netanyahu’s majority in the 120-member Knesset is not dependent on Maoz’s inclusion in the emerging coalition; the Likud leader and his allies won 64 of the 120 seats in this month’s elections.However, Netanyahu was not deterred from empowering such a radical politician with such a resonant role as head of a government authority on Jewish identity—albeit one with as-yet-unspecified responsibilities—and helped pave Maoz’s way into parliament in both this year’s and last year’s elections.
Even though Netanyahu’s Likud only provided a portion of the agreement on Sunday evening, the party stated that Nativ, which is in charge of processing Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union to Israel, would be transferred to Maoz’s authority.
One of Maoz’s more extreme positions is that he wants to make it harder for Jews to immigrate to Israel by making it harder for grandchildren of Jews who are not Jews to qualify for Israel’s Law of Return.Transferring the office that processes the applications of many immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Maoz’s jurisdiction may have an impact on how their applications are processed. The so-called grandfather clause allows many of these immigrants to obtain Israeli citizenship.
Just a few days after Likud agreed to give far-right provocateur Itamar Ben Gvir expanded authority as police minister, the coalition agreement with Noam was announced, along with the corresponding responsibilities and deputy minister position for Maoz.It moves Netanyahu one step closer to forming the most extreme government Israel has ever seen, one that is only made up of right-wing, far-right, religious, and ultra-Orthodox parties.
Maoz stated that the Law of Return, which establishes Jewish eligibility for Israeli citizenship, was being abused to “bring gentiles” into Israel shortly after retaining his Knesset seat on November 1 as part of his Noam party’s alliance.
Maoz was quoted by the Ynet news site as saying, “It has been proven once again that the Law of Return, whose purpose is to perpetuate the responsibility that the State of Israel has toward the Jews of the world, is absurdly used to bring gentiles into the State of Israel, and to systematically lower the percentage of Jews in the State of Israel.””We’ll do that because it’s time to fix this,” he promised.
Maoz and his religious and political allies are trying to exclude non-Orthodox conversion to Judaism from acceptable proofs of Jewishness for immigration, in addition to circumventing the grandfather clause.
In addition, Maoz has stated that he wants to eliminate unspecified “progressive study programs,” including undefined “gender studies,” and increase Jewish education in Israeli public schools.
His Noam party also ran ads in advance of the election on November 1 that said Arab teachers in Jewish schools helped erase Jewish identity, which some Jewish lawmakers said was racist.
Maoz has advocated for the “immediate” closure of the Israel Defense Forces’ gender affairs unit, which promotes women’s inclusion in the military.
He opposes women holding combat positions, has demanded that egalitarian prayer at Jerusalem’s Western Wall be stopped, and backs a religious party-backed plan to make gender segregation legal at public events.
Maoz’s campaign focused on “strengthening the Jewish character of the State of Israel” by enforcing stricter national Shabbat observance, bolstering the Orthodox Rabbinate’s monopoly over religious life, introducing religious law to the rest of society, and advocating for “family values.”Numerous homophobic positions are held by him and his party, Noam.
The Sunday agreement between Noam and Likud was criticized by lawmakers from the departed coalition.
Yesh Atid issued a statement that read, “From now on, according to Netanyahu and Avi Maoz, there are Class A Jews and Class B Jews.” On the other hand, Labor MK Gilad Kariv, a Reform rabbi, characterized the appointment as a “slap in the face” to individuals who identify as secular, traditionalist Jews, women, and gay people.
Kariv posted a tweet that read, “MK Maoz will find that the majority of the public will stand up to his party’s attempts to proselytize and sow hatred.”
In addition, the Reform movement in Israel strongly opposed the coalition agreement.
“We remind the presumed head of the authority on Jewish identity that there are multiple ways to be a Jew or Jewess.The movement said in a statement, “Avi Maoz, who got a job with a lot of money from the [presumed] prime minister-elect will not decide for millions of Jews and Jewsesses in Israel and the Diaspora what those ways are.”
Following a partial agreement with Otzma Yehudit to appoint Ben Gvir as national security minister and to assign the party two additional ministers, a deputy minister, and two committee heads, Likud’s agreement with Noam is the second in the ongoing coalition negotiations.
Shas, Religious Zionism, and United Torah Judaism have not yet reached an agreement with Likud.
