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Championing legalizing cannabis, Israeli ultra-right party amasses support

The head of the Zehut party, Moshe Feiglin, is a gifted politician: He advances Libertarian principles and legalization of cannabis while concealing his ambitions for a Jewish State law that would expel Arabs and annex the West Bank and Gaza.
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At a time when political parties, such as Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu, Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beitenu and in some polls even Meretz, are treading water around the vote threshold of four Knesset mandates, one new party that is not currently represented in the Knesset seems to be drawing the support of a growing public. Polls, despite their drawbacks and lack of accuracy, lately point toward the possibility of an election surprise and project Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut party would win at least four mandates. In one poll, he even reaches seven mandates.

Zehut has an extremist right-wing platform that includes, among other items, canceling the Oslo Accord; annexing all Palestinian territories as well as the Gaza Strip; deportation of Palestinians who oppose this; and granting residency status to Palestinians who openly declare loyalty to the state. Pledging allegiance to Israel should accord the Palestinian residence with civil rights such as the right for property and human rights in general, but no right to vote for the Knesset. Another status would be accorded to those interested in serving in the army, like the Druze or the Bedouins. According to Zehut’s platform, they would go through a process of proving their loyalty to the state. Only after that would they receive full citizenship. According to Feiglin, the state’s institutions should function according to Jewish religious law, and the Chief Rabbinate should manage the Temple Mount. Despite all this, Zehut has many supporters on the left.

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