“I thank the party members who today gave sweeping approval [by a vote of 1,165 in favor, 319 against] to the agreement I signed with the prime minister,” declared the chair of the small Zehut party, Moshe Feiglin, on Sept. 1. “God willing, the decision made today will lead to implementation of the Zehut platform by the government and the Knesset.”

The deal Feiglin reached with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu includes a promise to promote the libertarian underpinnings of the party’s ideology regarding a free economy, media, human and civil rights; reduced cost of living; formulation of a clear policy on immigration and border infiltration; improved services for Jews worshipping on the Temple Mount; equal law enforcement of all planning and zoning laws; and reduced regulation and transparency in statutory corporations.

However, the icing on the cake was undoubtedly the legalization of cannabis for medical use. At his joint news conference with Feiglin, Netanyahu spoke of the plight of “tens of thousands of sick who need medical cannabis, who deserve it and can’t get it; their need must be fulfilled." The prime minister promised to table a law legalizing medical cannabis for Knesset approval.

The chair of the Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Knesset member Tamar Zandberg of the left-wing Democratic Camp, told Al-Monitor in response that everything Feiglin had promised regarding medical cannabis, Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman had promised four years ago, and the situation has been deteriorating since. “The promise to import cannabis is also nonsense,” Zandberg added. “There is nowhere from which to import because very few countries export cannabis. On the contrary, there is demand for exports from Israel, but the government refuses to approve it.”