LGBT blacklist leads to 'atmosphere of fear' in Israel

James Rothwell
Tue, February 21, 2023 

Israelis hold pride and national flags at a protest outside the Knesset on the day Netanyahu's new right-wing government was sworn in in December '22. - AMMAR AWAD/Reuters

Israel's status as a gay-friendly beacon in the Middle East has been tainted by the revelation that a party in its new government once drew up a blacklist of high-profile LGBT figures.

The list of 50 names, which was compiled by the far-Right Noam party and recently exposed by an investigative journalist, has shocked the gay community in Israel.

Avi Maoz, the leader of Noam, has been appointed to the Israeli government by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and given some influence over education policy.

According to the exposé by Nadav Eyal, a correspondent for Ynet, the list was drawn up by the ultra-conservative Noam party in an attempt to preserve "Jewish identity".

Some knew of the list's existence back when it was compiled in 2019, having been alerted at the time, but they dismissed it at the time because Noam was then a tiny fringe group in Israeli politics.

"Someone sent it to me and I was pretty surprised... I didn't think it was very serious," a 35-year-old Israeli who is on the list, and who asked not to be identified, told the Sunday Telegraph.

"But now this party is part of the government it's different," he said.

The list also features the names of high-profile Israelis with outspoken left-wing or feminist views who were also considered harmful to Israel.

Most of the LGBT people named on the blacklist work in the TV entertainment and news industries. Ynet's report did not disclose the identities of the gay citizens on the list, though it is understood that most of them are openly gay.

Israel prides itself on being considered the most gay-friendly country in the Middle East, holding annual Pride parades in West Jerusalem and liberal Tel Aviv, where gay couples holding hands and kissing in public is a familiar sight.

A gay pride rally in Tel Aviv in June 2020. - Oded Balilty/AP

Gay Israelis can openly serve in the military and adopt children, and same-sex marriage ceremonies conducted abroad are recognised by the state.

While Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has insisted that there will be no changes to the current LGBT laws, his government is propped up by a number of religious ultranationalists who are staunchly anti-gay.

Among them is Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, who once said that while he would not "stone gays" he did consider himself to be a "fascist homophobe."

Mr Maoz, the Noam leader, has been given a role in the education ministry which, the Israeli opposition has claimed, will allow him to "instil the dark, homophobic, nationalist and violent teachings of his party into the schools of every child in Israel."

He is also lobbying to cancel Jerusalem's LGBT pride parade, a move that Mr Netanyahu has already ruled out.

It was unclear what the exact purpose of the 2019-era blacklist was, other than backing up the Noam party's belief that LGBT people wielded undue power over public life in Israel.

Since the list was exposed, Mr Maoz has said he has "nothing against" gay people in general but added that he feels "pain for those who live and act contrary to the Torah."

"They had an agenda that basically claims that gay people are in many cases...very influential in the Israeli media. And the point behind this list is to prove it," said the Israeli journalist whose name was on the list.

He said it was too early to tell whether the presence of Noam in the government would have a negative impact, though he acknowledged that it had contributed to an uneasy feeling amongst the gay community.

"The atmosphere is of fear because we had great changes [to LGBT legislation] in the last two decades, many of these changes were made by the supreme court and not the parliament. The general atmosphere is fear of us going back," he said.