Noam (political Party)

Noam ( he, נעם, lit=Pleasantness; officially known as Lazuz) is a far-right Orthodox Jewish political party in Israel, officially established in July 2019 by a very conservative faction in the Religious Zionist community inspired by Rabbi Zvi Thau and his Har Hamor Yeshiva. The party's main goal is to advance policies against LGBT rights, and against what its backers call "the destruction of the family".

History

Noam's basis is in Rabbi Zvi Thau and his Har Hamor Yeshiva. Rabbi Thau and his followers believe that The Jewish Home, a political party led by Rabbi Rafi Peretz, and Tkuma, a party led by Bezalel Smotrich, have not sufficiently advanced Jewish values, particularly in the realm of opposition to LGBT rights, protection of the Shabbat as a day of rest, and the protection of the Orthodox conversion process. Following Rabbi Thau's disappointment with the Union of the Right-Wing Parties, he and his followers decided to form the Noam party. While Rabbi Thau is the party's spiritual leader, Rabbi Dror Aryeh is the political leader of the party. Another student of Thau that is involved in the creation of the party is Rabbi Shlomo Aviner. He said that: "The party will fight against the destruction of the family, against the destruction of conversion, against the destruction of Shabbat, against the destruction of the Western Wall, and against the use of deviant content in the IDF and the Education Ministry."

The Noam party was reported to be in talks with the Otzma Yehudit party, which split recently from the United Right, for a possible joint run. In 2015, Otzma Yehudit allied itself with the Yachad party of former Shas chief Eli Yishai, running on a joint ticket for the 2015 Israeli legislative election. Rabbi Thau endorsed the joint ticket, marking the first time the Har Hamor dean had explicitly endorsed a political party. On 28 July, Noam and Otzma Yehudit agreed to run on a joint list for the September 2019 Israeli legislative election. The agreement between Noam and Otzma Yehudit was dissolved on 1 August because Noam disagreed with Otzma having secular Jewish candidates. Noam filed its list independently of any other party, though it withdrew from the race on 15 September.

The party formed a joint list with Otzma Yehudit, after allowing women and secular candidates on the list prior to the 2021 Israeli legislative election. However, the two parties subsequently joined the Religious Zionist Party alliance, and ran under its leadership.

The Religious Zionist Party, Noam, and Otzma Yehudit submitted a single list on 14 September 2022, ahead of the 2022 Israeli legislative election. The parties split into three parties in the Knesset on 20 November 2022.

Likud reached a coalition agreement with the party on 27 November 2022.

Controversy

The party released a video under the comment: "An entire country is going through conversion therapy. The time has come to stop it." In the video, a mother, father, and son go to vote on election day in September, and the family is bombarded with LGBT and Reform imagery. Once they reach the voting booth, the mother writes on her voting slip, "Let my son marry a woman", while the father writes, "Let my grandson be Jewish". The video was removed by YouTube for violating its terms of use.

Election results

Knesset members

References

External links

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{{Israeli political parties

Political parties in Israel
Religious Zionist political parties in Israel
Orthodox Jewish political parties
Chardal
Conservative parties in Israel
Social conservative parties
Far-right political parties in Israel
2019 establishments in Israel
Political parties established in 2019
Organizations that oppose LGBT rights