Israel pot lovers hope vote will turn new leaf

In the disjointed world of Israeli politics, one party claims it will give voters in Tuesday's election the straight dope: Green Leaf – a party aiming to legalize pot.

In the past, its hopes of getting a seat in the 120-seat Knesset proved hallucinatory but pollsters say it stands a better chance this time around.

Green Leaf made its mark with a series of controversial televised campaign ads, including one that shows party chairman Gil Kopatch sitting on the grave of Israel's founder David Ben-Gurion, smoking a giant joint.

"David, did you know that there are around one million dope smokers in the country?" says Kopatch, a comedian, offering a drag to the departed Zionist icon.

In Israel, possession or usage of marijuana can carry a sentence of up to three years in jail.

A parliament seat could prove even more of a pipe dream for a splinter faction of the pot-loving party which merged with another small group to form one of the most bizarre alliances in the history of Israel's unusual parties.

"Holocaust Survivors and Grown-Up Green Leaf" ran on a platform of cannabis legalization and improved conditions for survivors of the Nazi concentration camps.

Another of the long shots among the 33 factions running in Tuesday's election is the Party for the War Against Banks which claims financial institutions are causing poverty and exploiting citizens.

The party only garnered 2,163 votes in 2006, but is banking on widespread anger over the financial crisis to attract more ballots this time around.

Undeterred by past electoral flops, the Men's Rights party is vying for votes to help rescue Israel from what party leader Yaakov Schlusser says is the destruction of the country by "extremist feminists."