A prominent Religious Zionist yeshiva in Jerusalem unveiled the name and logo of its new political party, which is expected to run in this September’s Knesset election.
The Har Hamor Yeshiva, led by Rabbi Tzvi Tau, is preparing to launch its own political party, under the name “Noam: Am Normali BeArtzenu” [A Normal People In Our Own Land].
Channel 2’s Yair Cherki released the first images of the new party’s logo Friday, along with excerpts from a recent speech by Rabbi Tau which suggest the party’s focus will be on traditional values and social conservatism.
“They’ve created an atmosphere primed for promoting ‘shaming’ when you don’t use their ‘newspeak’ and or follow their politically correctness,” said Rabbi Tau, criticizing the Israeli Left for changing social norms, and the Israeli Right for not doing enough to preserve traditional values.
The Left, Rabbi Tau said in an apparent criticism of the LGBT movement, “doesn’t care about anyone. They don’t really care about what they say is being considerate of minority groups, of the wretched, of the helpless, [it’s not about] giving them dignity or helping them or raising them up, giving them self-confidence…. That isn’t it at all. They are using them in a cheap way, burying them, keeping them in their difficult situations with no way out, no way of improving [their situation] because this is ‘in their nature’, and you must not treat it, and no psychologist today would dare say that it can be treated, even though they know deep down that it can be treated, but you’re not allowed to say it.”
Last week, activists from the yeshiva gathered at a Jerusalem event hall to discuss the possibility of launching a new political party focus on promoting social conservatism.
A former senior aide to United Right chief and Education Minister Rafi Peretz, who broke away from the Jewish Home recently, is involved in the planning of the new party, which may adopt the long-standing policy of haredi parties of not including women on its Knesset slate.
Despite the release of the Noam party’s name and logo, no official announcement of the party’s launch has been made.
According to a recent report by the Kipa website, the Otzma Yehudit party, which split recently from the United Right, is in talks with the Har Hamor Yeshiva for a possible joint run.
In 2015, Otzma Yehudit allied itself with the Yahad party of former Shas chief Eli Yishai, running on a joint ticket for the 19th Knesset. Rabbi Tau endorsed the joint ticket, marking the first time the Har Hamor dean had explicitly endorsed a political party.