Far-right party in Israel compares LGBT advocates to Nazis
Screenshot from the ultra-Orthodox party’s campaign video (@Noamparty/Twitter)
A new campaign video from Israel’s ultra-orthodox Noam party likens LGBT+ rights advocates to Nazis and Palestinian suicide bombers, saying they “want to destroy us”.
The far-right Zionist party announced last month that they would be running in Israel’s September 17 election, with a focus on combatting LGBT+ acceptance.
The party is polling far below the 3.25 percent vote threshold for entering Israel’s government, but its controversial messaging is attracting a lot of attention among Israeli media.
The latest video targets Reform Jews and left-wing advocates alongside LGBT+ people, warning: “Since our very birth, they’ve been trying to destroy us.”
This is set against a backdrop of video footage of Adolf Hitler calling for “the destruction of the Jewish race in Europe”.
הותר לפרסום: הסוד שמטריד את בכירי מערכת הביטחון. צפו >> pic.twitter.com/HhJQQG8G9T
— מפלגת נעם (@noamparty) August 13, 2019
It continues: “With God’s help, we’ve returned home. But they didn’t stop trying.” The video then shows scenes of Arab tanks, Palestinian suicide bombers and a Jerusalem terrorist attack.
Referring to Israel’s liberal Jews, the voiceover states: “They changed their methods. They still want to destroy us. But this time from the inside.”
The video then turns to a news report about a LGBT+ Pride parade and claims: “Every year, there are people who go to Pride and come back irreversibly damaged.”
Next, it shows a news headline about Israel’s falling birthrate. “They’re destroying the family and the birthrate – to prevent a Jewish majority,” the video declares.
Image of a Nazi conference from Noam’s campaign video (@Noamparty/Twitter)
The footage was viewed more than 18,000 times within five hours of its posting, but The Times of Israel pointed out that it had garnered just 77 likes and 10 retweets in that time, suggesting it was going viral among critics, not supporters.
In response to the video, one Israeli Twitter user said: “I’m so happy to see how little of the Israeli public actually supports you. The public is disgusted with you.”
Another added: “Straight after Tet Be’Av [a Jewish Fast day], without hesitation you go full speed ahead with spreading hate.”
A further person commented: “You mention how the country is getting destroyed from the inside – it is actually about you.”
And one religious viewer simply said: “Have you gone mad?”
The party posted a fake front page depicting an Israeli official as a transgender woman. The mocking headline reads: “The Chief of General Staff of the IDF now wants to be referred to as a woman” (@noamparty/Twitter)
The newly-founded fringe party was established by 81-year-old rabbi Tzvi Tau, a leading figure in the national-religious movement against LGBT+ acceptance.
In 2017, he wrote that homosexuality is the “ugliest deviation, which breaks down family life… and contradicts the first basis of human existence.”
The party has also linked homosexuality with child trafficking. Last week, a judge ruled that billboard owners cannot legally refuse to display Noam’s political advertisements making these divisive statements.
