I thought this was interesting, Holocaust survivors in Israel and pro-legalization group Grown-up Green Leaf have formed a coalition to run in Israel's Parliamentary elections.
Up against 33 other parties already officially registered, its unlikely that this group will net the 2.5 percent, roughly 70,000 votes, to win a seat.
This special party's purpose is two-fold, improve social conditions for Holocaust survivors, and the legalization of cannabis. It's the unusual culmination of two issues that pale against security issues, but are important to its supporters.
Around 250,000 elderly survivors of the Nazi Holocaust live in Israel, many of them dependent on financial aid from Israel and Germany.
Here's the part where even I, a proponent of legalization, admit it gets a little weird (unless I misread the article):
In one spot, Kopatch sits on the grave of the state's founder and first prime minister David Ben-Gurion, saying that instead of buying cannabis from Israel's most bitter enemies, the drug should be legalised.
"David, did you know that there are around one million dope smokers in the country?" Kopatch says, holding a large joint between his fingers.
"Do you know who grows this? Hamas and Hezbollah ... They are making a fortune and use it to buy rockets and fire them at us. Isn't that a shame?">
Not a bad line of reasoning, just don't understand the blazing a joint while talking to a person in their grave. No matter, to each his own.
The Green Leaf party was founded in 1994 and has run in each election since then, failing to cross the two percent threshold. Elections take place on Feb. 10. Best of luck to them.