Far-Right Noam Party head Avi Maoz submitted his letter of resignation from the government to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, N12 reported.
The report came a week after Maoz accused the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on the Kol Barama radio show of planning a coup against the government.
Maoz told presenters that for the past year, he had been "calling for the dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet" due to the Shin Bet "working towards a coup in the State of Israel."
A Jerusalem Post editorial from May 2023 said that the Noam Party leader has no place in the Israeli government, claiming that he and his party advocate extremist views that are anti-pluralist and anti-secular, anti-feminist, and anti-LGBTQ+. The editorial came in response to the cabinet approving Maoz’s reinstatement as a deputy minister and head of the Jewish National Identity Authority.
Maoz's past statements
Weeks before the editorial's publication, Maoz said that New York City Mayor Eric Adams treats yeshivas better than Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai.
He made this statement during a speech at the Knesset Plenum, noting his anger that the Tel Aviv municipality had withdrawn from an agreement between it and the Ma’aleh Eliahu yeshiva, saying that the Jewish institution would be evacuated and, in return, would be able to move into an old synagogue in the city.
Two weeks earlier, Maoz accused the Justice Ministry of attempting to normalize pedophilia within the country by altering Israel's age of consent laws, with it being age 16, but that the age of consent can be 14 provided that the other sexual partner was no more than three years older and both parties consented, with Maoz accusing that the ministry is trying to widen that age gap to five years.
The month before, Maoz released an official statement addressing his feelings that Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana is openly gay and that his husband is introduced publicly at official government functions, where he noted that he was "filled with shame and pain, to the depth of [his] soul when the State of Israel and its official representatives, at the official ceremony in remembrance of those killed in the Holocaust, and at other government events and ceremonies on Remembrance Day and Independence Day, showed the whole world 'Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and his [male] partner' as if it were an accepted and authentic Jewish norm."
Maoz had also submitted a bill nearly two years ago to repeal the Grandchild Clause in the Law of Return, which extends the right to Israeli citizenship to anyone who has a Jewish grandparent.
Zvika Klein contributed to this report.