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After Netanyahu pressure, extremist Noam agrees to run with Religious Zionism
Carrie Keller-Lynn is a political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel
The far-right Noam party will run on the joint slate of Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit in the upcoming election.
Noam — whose central party platform is staunchly anti-LGBT — had threatened a solo run and dragged negotiations out until this afternoon, until just minutes before Religious Zionism was scheduled to present its Knesset roster to the Central Elections Committee. Just hours earlier, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu met with Noam’s spiritual leader Rabbi Zvi Tau to attempt to convince the party to join together with Religious Zionism — as it did in the past — to avoid wasting right-wing votes if the party does not cross the electoral threshold.
“After a long meeting with the rabbis of the party, it was decided to comply with the request of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to join the union in Religious Zionism and take the 11th place,” party MK Avi Maoz wrote in a message to journalists.
