Joint Ventures: Green Leaf vs. Green Leaf Graduates
You have probably heard the joke about the Jew on a desert island who built two synagogues, so he could attend one and assiduously avoid the other. That’s all the explanation you need as to why there are more than 30 parties running in Israel’s election next Tuesday.
Parties here split more regularly then amoeba. Last year here was a breakaway from the Pensioners Party. From the sublime to the ridiculous, in the run-up to this election the party campaigning for the legalization of marijuana has split.
Now the original party, Green Leaf, decided to go for some bold electioneering. Its campaign video shows a party activist on the grave of Israel’s first Prime Minister David smoking what appeared to be a joint; it implies Ben-Gurion’s posthumous support for the party’s platform.
Not wanting to be outdone by their former allies, the breakaway faction, Green Leaf Graduates, invoked some even more emotive backing. “For us, the Holocaust survivors, our moral obligation is to legalize it [marijuana],” says an elderly man, Yaakov Kfir, in their election video.
In fact, Green Leaf Graduates have actually merged their party for purposes of the election with the Holocaust Survivors Party, which is fighting for pension rights for survivors. The survivors felt that a joint ticket was the best way of getting high support for their cause.
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