Likud party adds controversial Israeli rapper to membership

An Israeli nationalist rapper known for controversial lyrics about Palestinians has become a member of the ruling Likud party, in a move MPs hope will boost the party's popularity.

Yoav Eliasi, better known as The Shadow, said on Wednesday that he wanted to “make a change” within Likud, which he criticised for espousing increasingly left-wing policies.

Eliasi was welcomed to the fold by Likud MP Oren Hazan, who told Israeli news site Yedioth Ahranoth that Elias’s support would be “worth five seats” for the party.

The 38-year-old is celebrated by many right-wing and nationalist Israelis as an anti-establishment figure. 

In April he was scheduled to headline a rally in support of Elor Azaria, an Israeli soldier who was filmed shooting dead a Palestinian attacker as the man lay injured on the ground. However, he Eliasi was disinvited at the last minute over concerns that the event had been hijacked by radicals.

The rapper has previously suggested castrating Palestinians killed after attacking Israelis, and is known for his outspoken Facebook pronouncements and the even more extreme comments by his fans, known as “The Shadow’s Lions”.

Eliasi on Wednesday promised to recruit his “lions” to form a “Likud Guard” and promised to “throw dollars at every word” of Hazan’s speeches in parliament.

Hazan for his part said that he and Eliasi had “a lot in common” as both were “fed up with the political correctness” that he said has taken over the Israeli parliament.

“We haven’t known each other for very long, but I feel that Yoav is like a brother to me – that’s why I call him Yoav and not The Shadow,” Hazan was quoted as saying.

Hazan said there were “a lot” of Likud MPs who he would like to see Eliasi replace “right away”.

Eliasi said on Wednesday that he may consider running for parliament, though he is “not in that place at the moment”.

Hazan was removed from the Knesset’s state control committee on Tuseday after saying he would support an inquiry into the alleged mishandling of the 2014 war on Gaza.