“A normal nation in our land”: Reproductive righteousness, redemptive politics and LGBTQIA+ opposition in contemporary Israel

Abstract

This article examines the political rhetoric and policy pursuits of a right-wing nationalist party in Israel (‘Noam’), showcasing how opposition to gender and sexual diversity is centered within an exclusionary vision of Jewish purity. Discursive analysis of political materials show how Noam frame gender and sexual diversity as potent proof of moral decline and as contaminating forces, which can only be saved by righteous (heterosexual) saviors. From billboards and election manifestos to policy, Noam's vision of a ‘Jewish state’ is underpinned by an idea of ‘normality’ that is ethno-nationalist, heteronormative and patriarchal. Their attempts to construct threats to the ‘normal’ Jewish nuclear family help to gain broader public support and forge alliances with hegemonic political parties. Situating this particular Jewish-Israeli exclusionary logic of reproductive righteousness is part of a broader feminist study of emerging alliances within right-wing movements in an increasingly globalized identity politics of opposition to gender and sexual diversity.