The pro-marijuana Holocaust survivors party is the hottest match-up

[IndianaGreen]

Last update - 03:57 08/02/2009

The pro-marijuana Holocaust survivors party is the hottest match-up

By Lily Galili

The idea was simple: The Holocaust survivors would bring an ailing peer who would advocate legal uses for marijuana. He would speak Yiddish, in order to exploit the gimmick to the hilt, and a skilled videographer would film him for a televised election spot for the Holocaust Survivors and Grown-Up Green Leaf (Ale Yarok) party.

The slate members had gathered in the living room of survivor Yaakov Kfir (No. 2). List head Ohad Shem Tov, on behalf of Green Leaf, was there, along with No. 4 Yaakov Hollander, on behalf of the survivors. Hollander was to appear in the clip, and he wore a tailored suit. There was even a general idea for the text, something that would link physical suffering with the relief that marijuana can offer Holocaust survivors, among others. From this point on, everything went wrong: The would-be photographer, from the Grown-Up Green Leaf party, was fast asleep, and his friends could not wake him. The survivor who was supposed to star in the broadcast, who told his horrifying life story during the long hours of waiting for the sleeping photographer, was more than willing to participate, but he had only two conditions: that he not be shown in the video (at all) and that marijuana not be mentioned. Shem Tov's dream of arousing the nation with something along the lines of "Ich bin groyse choyleh, ich vil marijuana," came face to face with reality, and shattered. Even with Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau, Billy Wilder would not have been able to direct a more bizarre scene.

Despite the sound of it, the Grown-Up Green Leaf party is not for those who have progressed from marijuana to harder drugs, but rather those who, in their own words, "have moved the party one step forward, while the other faction, headed by Kopatsch, was stolen." Their partnership with the Holocaust Survivors is the hottest pairing in this election round. Call it bizarre, cynical, or crazy, but more than 7,000 Google hits in four days can't be wrong. Most are long articles by important international newspapers. The articles take a cautious tone, since non-Jews are careful about respecting the dignity of Holocaust survivors, even if these articles imply that in the Jewish state, anything can happen: In the Jewish state, of all places, they are being treated with contempt.

There are 33 lists competing in the 2009 elections. Up until five days ago there were 34, but the Mahapakh Bihinukh (Revolution in Education) party withdrew its candidacy, explaining that the war ruined its campaign. That is an all-time record, topping the 31 lists that competed for seats in the 15th and 17th Knessets. This abundance does not reflect a flourishing democracy, but mainly deepening despair with the functioning of the political system.

But there is a prosaic explanation as well: The success of the Pensioners Party in the 2006 elections gave everyone hope. Almost every fly-by-night party mentioned this. "We will be the surprise of the elections, just like the Pensioners," they promise. There are 33 lists, yet some voters are still complaining, "There's nobody to vote for."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1062349.html

[Fozzledick]

1. Finally, a faction we can all support?

:smoke:

[baldguy]

2. It's the "Where's The Party?" Party