A new party under the leadership of a doctor who opposes vaccines and who has had his medical license suspended at least once is gearing up to run for the Knesset in the March election, on a platform that focuses on healthcare and increasing the national healthcare budget.

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Party head Dr. Arieh Avni opposes western medicine, including vaccines, and has published material attacking members of the medical profession and the medical establishment in Israel.

The Rapeh party platform states that its members intend to "work to change the priorities of the healthcare system for the good of the citizens of Israel, and end the monopoly on medical treatments by integrating alternative medicine into the Israeli healthcare system."

On his Facebook page, Avni discusses his new party, writing: "And this is the third point of our platform: the mission of Rapeh is to heal the long-term ills of the Health Ministry, which reached new heights in 2020-2021 and were seen in insufferable medical coercion and harm to human rights – lockdown, social distancing, electronic tracking, 'green passports,' mandatory masks, the destruction of the economy, and the public being misled."

Avni writes, "The crimes that they, the top officials in the Health Ministry over the years, have committed since the founding of the state against the residents of this country are an atrocity. They, the senior officials, have made the residents of Israel into slaves of the vaccine manufacturers, and chemotherapy and a sea of medications, without teaching them anything about ways of maintaining their health."

Avni's views are not limited to vaccines. In 2015 the Health Ministry suspended his license for a month after he published articles on a website accusing oncologists of killing cancer patients through conventional cancer treatments.

Some of his quotes cited in the ministry's decision to suspend his license include an assertion by Avni that "If cancer patients refused on masse to take poison, oncologists would be out of work," and "Oncologists are the main factor in digging the graves of 10,000 cancer patients in Israel every year."

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"I will bring the deal to the Zehut leadership, and we'll decide. An unexpected opportunity has arisen to turn what appeared to be a failure into a great success," Feiglin said.

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Feiglin's statements on Wednesday contradicted remarks he made a day earlier at an election event at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, where he stressed that his party would not drop out of the Knesset race. Some 1,000 Zehut supporters attended the Tel Aviv event.

On Monday, Israeli media reported that the Likud was pressuring Zehut and Otzma Yehudit, both small right-wing parties, to drop out of the national election. Neither of the two parties – Otzma Yehudit and Zehut – is expected to gain enough votes to enter the Knesset, and the Likud is seeking to prevent right-wing votes from being wasted.

Likud negotiator Natan Eshel has reportedly pressured Otzma Yehudit Party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir to drop out of the race, while Likud officials are said to have offered Feiglin an economy-related ministry position, to cover all of his campaign costs to date and legalize personal use of marijuana – one of Zehut's central campaign promises – if his party withdraws.

Part of this article is reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The vote was 65 in favor of the bill, 43 against, with six abstentions.

To be enacted, the bill will have to pass all the requisite readings by this Wednesday – the extended deadline given to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by President Reuven Rivlin to form a governing coalition.

Meanwhile, in a last-ditch attempt to try and head off an early general election, Habayit Hayehudi chairman Rafi Peretz met with Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman Monday afternoon and arranged for him to meet with Netanyahu. The two were sitting down while their fellow MKs voted to dissolve the Knesset. According to a source in the Likud, the meeting ended without any breakthrough.

Netanyahu was expected to address the Knesset plenum and make an announcement at 8 p.m.

The flurry of activity came after Netanyahu met with faction leaders earlier Monday to discuss a date for a new Knesset election. The faction leaders and the prime minister reportedly agreed on a date toward the end of August.

Earlier Monday, MK Miki Zohar presented the Knesset Secretary with a bill to dissolve the 21^st Knesset and hold a new election.

Lieberman said earlier Monday he was insisting that a bill on haredi conscription authored while he was still serving as defense minister be passed by the Knesset, as planned.

"Anyone can realize this is a stance of principle. That's what the Likud is most afraid of, that people will realize this isn't revenge or anything [like that]. The Likud is trying to create a narrative of personal revenge," Lieberman said.

The Yisrael Beytenu leader also had harsh words for Israel Hayom's coverage of his latest political moves, saying that "Pravda is the days of Stalin was gentler."

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In the early morning hours, after the soldiers' votes were counted, it had appeared that New Right had passed the Knesset threshold.

However, due to a "malfunction" on the Central Election Committee's website, "New Right still needs 1,000 votes," committee member Avraham Webber told Army Radio. Likud MK David Bitan, meanwhile, said New Right only needed 400 votes to pass the electoral threshold.

On Wednesday morning, when it initially appeared his party had failed to make it past the minimum threshold, Bennett said the soldiers' votes would decide his fate. It still remains to be seen whether this prediction was well-founded.

Speaking to reporters outside his home in Raanana on Wednesday, Bennett said: "All my life, I've given all I could for the sake of this good people. I was always a soldier of the state. As a combat soldier in [the elite commando unit] Sayeret Matkal, as a high-tech entrepreneur, as education minister and as a cabinet member during Operation Protective Edge.

"Now the soldiers will decide where I will continue to fight on their behalf. What is certain is that I will never stop giving everything [I have] to the State of Israel."

IDF soldiers comprise approximately 5% of voters and soldiers' votes have been enough to change electoral results in previous elections.

In addition to soldiers' ballots, votes cast by the disabled at accessible polling locations; hospital patients; prisoners; Israeli Navy personnel; and diplomats and government representatives abroad are also counted after the regular polls close at 10 p.m. the day of an election, and can all affect the final results.

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