The conflict between supporters of Israel's COVID vaccination program and those who refuse to be vaccinated and oppose the government's green pass vaccination certificate has taken on a new dimension. A new initiative from the anti-vax camp seeks to establish a new, separate community for Israelis who refuse to be vaccinated.
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A member of the Facebook group "People of the Free Spirit", Yoav Etzion, suggested on Sunday that a new community for anti-vaxxers be built on the site of an abandoned IDF base near Haifa.
"One of the problems we all have is interaction with the injected [meaning vaccinated Israelis]," Etzion wrote. "Therefore, I thought that maybe we should set up our own separate communities. Obviously, they couldn't be existing communities because in every community there are injected [people]."
"The solution appears in the form of abandoned [army] camps. There's one not far from my house. The Juara Base was used for youth 'garins' until a few years ago. It has electricity, water, and phone infrastructure. The location is great (20 minutes from Haifa, five minutes from Yokneam) and the view is amazing, even at the end of summer when everything is dry.
"The existing buildings of course need renovation, but they could house 20-30 families. I'm certain that if we organize, we could get the place from the IDF and set up a lovely cooperative community," Etzion wrote.
Israel Hayom reached out to Etzion, who said that his post had attracted dozens of messages and that he had already reached out to the IDF to look into the feasibility of using the site for his idea.
"This is a very serious initiative. I'm sick of the violence I'm subjected to by the injected. Personally, I can't get the Pfizer vaccine because of a health condition, not that it matters to someone I wouldn't welcome in any case," he said.
Etzion alleged that in spite of his unspecified health condition, the Health Ministry "obligated" him to get the vaccination.
"The goal is to create a community without lockdowns, without testing in schools, without the green pass. Just a community in which people live like we did two years ago. No one will need to prove that they're healthy. The rationale for establishing the community is to have as little contact as possible with the hysterical 'injected.' It's simply unpleasant to be around them," he said.
Etzion is aware that the IDF would have to approve the use of the property for his proposed community, but says he is working to achieve his goal, and if an agreement in principle is reached, he will recruit a lawyer to continue the project.
"I've already gotten a few dozen messages. I'm still waiting for an answer from the IDF … because there's no point in hiring a lawyer if they refuse," he concluded.
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