But for Likud, under Netanyahu, this seems to be a meal his members are preparing to consume out of political despair. In the past, the party and its leader have supported LGBTQ rights. Its members of the Knesset also left the room when racist politicians from the far right spoke.
Looks like it’s gone.
The potential ruling party, Yamina, led by Naftali Bennet, is also on the right. But Bennet’s personal rivalry with Netanyahu and his ambition to take over the right, if Netanyahu is ever overthrown, means that he is not joining a “pro-Bibi” bloc for the time being.
Given that the Channel 13 poll predicts 11 seats, his party could take Netanyahu’s alliance to 58. But for now, this cannot be based on Netanyahu’s Likud strategies. So every right vote counts. To ensure this, Netanyahu forged the creation of micro-blocks. The parties must pass 3.5 percent of the voting threshold to count at all. Small parties may struggle to succeed. By welding them in groups that share a list of candidates among themselves and allies to his coalition ticket, every vote is made accountable.
According to a Channel 13 poll, the religious Zionist bloc, which includes Jewish power, will receive five seats. This would result in a Knesset seat for Itamar Ben-Gvir, a devotee of the Kach movement in Israel, which was banned in 1994 as a terrorist organization.
At the time, he was a leader of the Kach youth movement.
“The badge is a symbol and shows that because we managed to get this symbol, we can reach the Rabbi,” he said.
Now Noam has joined the group – a religious party that is the main reason for the ether seems to be homophobia.
Party leader Avi Maoz, who could also win a Knesset seat, according to Channel 13 and other polls, campaigned against same-sex adoption and in vitro fertilization for same-sex couples.
“A country that strengthens a healthy family, which includes father, mother and children, is normal. A country where parents or two mothers are recognized as a family is not normal,” he added.
Israel’s left, desperate to build a coalition to eliminate Netanyahu, is also made up of many small parties.
Meretz, a mass left-wing party that also hopes to attract the votes of ethnic Israeli Arabs, whose traditional parties often get 10-15 seats, was predictably outraged by the latest right-wing pact.
Nitzan Horowitz, leader of Meretz, told CNN: “This party is homophobic, it is racist, it supports Jewish supremacy, the deportation of Arabs, this is medieval politics.”
“I am very sorry that this is happening in my country. I think it is a shame that Prime Minister Netanyahu is in an alliance with this kind of people. He is a neo-fascist. He does not belong here,” he said.
But within the Likud party, even among LGBTQ activists, there is ambiguity.
Netanyahu has a long record of supporting LGBTQ rights.
“Loving someone should never mean a life of fear or terror. For too long, the LGBT community around the world has faced violence and intimidation … in Israel, the LGBT community is proud. My unwavering belief is that all people are created equal. .. unfortunately, some elements of our society are not yet ready to accept the LGBT community. My solemn promise to you today is to encourage respect for all the citizens of Israel without exception, “he said in a TV show in front of gay people in Jerusalem the pride march in 2016, a year after a 16-year-old girl was stabbed and killed in the same event.
Eran Globus, a trainee lawyer who presided over the minority shelter for the Open House for Pride and Tolerance in Jerusalem, told CNN that he was disgusted by the latest political pact struck by the Israeli prime minister.
But when asked if this means that the Likud Party lost its vote, he replied: “I think that, like many Israelis after voting three times (in three general elections within a year), it is very unclear until in a minute you get there. “
Likud spokesman Eli Hazan summed up the calculation for Likud.
“I have to be prepared to win under any circumstances. I don’t like this party. We don’t share anything with them except the will to win the election against the left wing.”