Netanyahu puts extremist homophobic politician in charge of Israel’s Jewish identity - The Times of Israel

One of the Knesset’s astir far-right politicians, who holds non-pluralist Jewish views and anti-LGBT, sexist, and anti-Arab positions, volition beryllium the adjacent government’s caput of “Jewish identity,” pursuing an statement signed Sunday with presumed premier minister-to-be Benjamin Netanyahu.

Avi Maoz, the azygous lawmaker of the fringe Noam party, volition beryllium appointed lawman curate and caput a to-be-created authorization for Jewish identity, which volition beryllium housed nether the Prime Minister’s Office.

While Netanyahu’s Likud lone shared partial details of the statement connected Sunday evening, the enactment said that among the organizations to beryllium transferred to Maoz’s authorization is Nativ, which is liable for processing Jewish migration to Israel from the erstwhile Soviet Union.

Among Maoz’s extremist positions, helium has said that helium wants to constrain eligibility for Jewish migration to Israel by removing the quality for grandchildren of Jews who are not Jews themselves to suffice nether Israel’s Law of Return. Many immigrants to Israel from the erstwhile Soviet Union get their citizenship nether the alleged gramps clause, and transferring the bureau that handles their applications to Maoz’s purview whitethorn impact their processing.

The conjugation statement with Noam, and the resonant responsibilities and lawman minister’s station for Maoz — announced conscionable days aft Likud agreed to marque far-right provocateur Itamar Ben Gvir police minister with expanded authorities — determination Netanyahu 1 measurement person to forming Israel’s astir hardline authorities ever, comprising lone right-wing, far-right, religious, and ultra-Orthodox parties.

Shortly aft retaining his Knesset spot connected November 1, arsenic portion of his Noam party’s confederation with Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit and the Religious Zionism enactment — an confederation engineered by Netanyahu for governmental expedience — Maoz said that the Law of Return that establishes Jewish eligibility for Israeli citizenship was being abused to “bring gentiles” into Israel. (Maoz was archetypal elected to the Knesset successful 2021.)

“It has been proven erstwhile again that the Law of Return, whose intent is to perpetuate the work that the State of Israel has toward the Jews of the world, is absurdly utilized to bring gentiles into the State of Israel, and to systematically little the percent of Jews successful the State of Israel,” Maoz said, arsenic quoted by the Ynet quality site. “It’s clip to hole this thing, and that’s what we’ll do,” helium promised.

In summation to circumscribing the gramps clause, Maoz and spiritual governmental allies are pushing to carve retired non-Orthodox conversion to Judaism from acceptable proofs of Jewishness for immigration.

Maoz has besides said that helium wants to summation Jewish acquisition successful Israeli nationalist schools and wants to scrap unspecified “progressive survey programs,” including undefined “gender studies.”

His Noam enactment besides ran campaign ads successful beforehand of the November 1 predetermination that said that Arab teachers successful Jewish schools contributed to the erasure of Jewish identity, a presumption condemned arsenic racist by immoderate Jewish lawmakers.

In presumption of women, Maoz has pushed to “immediately” close the Israel Defense Forces’ sex affairs portion that promotes women’s spot successful the military.

He is against women successful combat positions, has called to unopen down egalitarian supplication astatine Jerusalem’s Western Wall, and supports a spiritual party-backed connection to legalize sex segregation astatine nationalist events.

Maoz campaigned connected “strengthening the Jewish quality of the State of Israel” by having stricter nationalist observance of Shabbat, strengthening the Orthodox Rabbinate’s monopoly implicit spiritual life, injecting spiritual instrumentality into broader nine and promoting “family values.” He and his Noam enactment clasp a fig of homophobic positions.

Noam archetypal burst onto the governmental country successful 2019 with a bid of provocative road billboards and video ads with the slogan “Israel chooses to beryllium normal.” The enactment claims that the LGBT assemblage has “forced its agenda” connected the remainder of Israeli society, which believes successful a “normal” (heteronormative) household structure.

It has besides likened LGBT and Reform Jews to the Nazis. A 2019 run video compares Reform Jews, left-wing activists, and cheery rights advocates to Nazis and Palestinian termination bombers, saying each of them “want to destruct us.”

Maoz himself has precocious advocated shutting down Pride parades, reinstating “mother” and “father” connected authorities forms successful lieu of the newly-adopted “parent,” and enabling now-banned and mostly debunked conversion therapy.

Noam’s spiritual leader, the salient national-Haredi rabbi Tzvi Tau, has been a starring dependable successful the nationalist spiritual assemblage against LGBT acceptance. In 2017, helium wrote that homosexuality is the “ugliest deviation, which breaks down household life… and contradicts the archetypal ground of quality existence.”

Tau has precocious been accused of a spate of intersexual assaults, allegedly reaching backmost decades.

Lawmakers from the outgoing conjugation denounced the statement inked Sunday betwixt Noam and Likud.

“From present on, according to Netanyahu and Avi Maoz, determination are Class A Jews and Class B Jews,” Yesh Atid said successful a statement, portion Labor MK Gilad Kariv, a Reform rabbi, called the assignment a “slap successful the face” to secular people, traditionalist Jews, women, and gays.

“MK Maoz volition find that the bulk of the nationalist volition basal up to his party’s attempts to proselytize and sow hatred,” Kariv tweeted.

The Reform question successful Israel besides came retired powerfully against the conjugation agreement.

“We punctual the presumed caput of the [Jewish identity] authorization that determination is much than 1 mode to beryllium a Jew oregon Jewess. Avi Maoz, who got a occupation with excessive backing from the [presumed] premier minister-elect volition not determine for millions of Jews and Jewesses successful Israel and the Diaspora what those ways are,” the question said successful a statement.

Likud’s statement with Noam is the 2nd inked during the ongoing conjugation negotiations, pursuing a partial statement with Otzma Yehudit to name Ben Gvir arsenic nationalist information minister, arsenic good arsenic delegate the enactment 2 further ministers, a lawman minister, and 2 committee heads.

Religious Zionism, United Torah Judaism, and Shas person yet to motion a woody with Likud.

Judah Ari Gross, Jacob Magid and Times of Israel unit contributed to this report.