But for the Likud, under Netanyahu, this seems to be a food its members are willing to consume out of political desperation. In the past, the party and its leader have championed LGBTQ rights. Its Knesset members have also left the chamber when far-right racist politicians have taken the floor.
Looks like no more.
The potential ruling party, Yamina, led by Naftali Bennet, is also on the right. But Bennet’s personal rivalry with Netanyahu and the ambition to take over the right, if Netanyahu is ever overthrown, means that, for now, he is not joining a “pro-Bibi” electoral bloc for now. .
With the Channel 13 poll predicting 11 seats, his party could get Netanyahu’s alliance up to 58. But for now, that’s not what Netanyahu’s Likud strategists can take advantage of. Therefore, every right-wing vote counts. To ensure this, Netanyahu has forged the creation of microblogs. The parties must pass 3.5% of the voting threshold to count at all. Small parties can struggle to achieve this. By uniting them into groups that share a list of candidates among themselves and ally with their coalition ticket, each vote is counted.
According to the Channel 13 poll, the religious Zionist party bloc, which includes Jewish power, will have five seats. This would translate into a Knesset seat for Itamar Ben-Gvir, a devotee of the Kach movement in Israel who was banned in 1994 as a terrorist organization.
At that time he was one of the protagonists of the Kach youth movement.
“The badge is a symbol and shows that, as we have achieved, we can reach Rabin,” he said.
Now, Noam has joined the group, a religious party whose main motive is homophobia.
Party leader Avi Maoz, who could also win a Knesset seat, according to Channel 13 and other polls, had campaigned against same-sex adoption and in vitro fertilization for same-sex couples.
“A country that makes a healthy family strong that includes father, mother and children is normal. It is not normal a country where fathers or two mothers are recognized as a family,” he added.
The Israeli left, desperate to build a coalition to oust Netanyahu, is also made up of many small parties.
Meretz, a major left-wing party that also hopes to attract the votes of ethnic Arab Israelis, whose traditional parties typically win 10 to 15 seats, has been predictably outraged by the latest right-wing pact.
Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz told CNN: “This party is homophobic, it is racist, it defends 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 pity that Prime Minister Netanyahu maintains an alliance with such people. He is a neo-fascist. He does not belong here,” he said.
But within the Likud party, even among LGBTQ activists, there are mistakes.
Netanyahu has a long history 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 walks proudly. My unshakable conviction 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 continue to promote respect for all citizens of Israel without exception, ”he said in a television broadcast in front of Jerusalem’s gay gay march of pride in 2016, a year after a 16-year-old girl was stabbed and murdered at the same event.
Eran Globus, a lawyer in training who used to preside over the Open House’s minority shelter for Jerusalem’s pride and tolerance, told CNN that he was disgusted by the latest political pact reached by the Israeli prime minister.
But when asked if that meant the Likud party had lost its vote, he replied, “I think like many Israelis after three times of voting (in three general elections within a year), it is very unclear until the minute you get there “.
Likud spokesman Eli Hazan summed up the Likud calculation.
“I need to be prepared to win in any condition. I don’t like this match. We don’t share anything with them except the will to win the election against the left wing.”