Israel’s LGBTQ+ community is left fearing for their future as prime minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu and the incoming coalition come into power.
Netanyahu and his coalition have not hidden the fact that they are hostile towards LGBTQ+ people and Palestinians. The prime minister-elect’s success has opened the way for the most rightwing and anti-Arab government in Israel’s history.
“I have managed [to form a government]” Netanyahu announced on Twitter, minutes before the midnight deadline set by the country’s president, Isaac Herzog.
Netanyahu’s announcement happened after a coalition pact was reached with the Religious Zionism party, an ultra-nationalist group.
One of the biggest contributions to the fears held by the LGBTQ+ community in the country comes from a comment made by Avi Maoz, leader of the extremist religious nationalist party Noam.
Maoz had said that queer people are a “threat to the family,” and a woman’s greatest achievement in life is to marry and have children, as reported by The Guardian.
Plans for Maoz to head a new “national Jewish identity” authority are underway, with powers over some school activities that include gender and minority rights.
Some left-wing voters in the country are not surprised by the rise of a homophobic and ultra-religious government. The political chaos and successive elections that were triggered by Netanyahu’s corruption painted an obvious picture.
Read the article by Tileah Dobson in Star Observer.