It was only a matter of time before the chairman of the HaBayit HaYehudi Party, Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, understood the potential of the mass protest that erupted on social media April 29 in support of David Adamov, a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Nahal Brigade, nicknamed “David the Nahlawi.”
Adamov was filmed in the West Bank town of Hebron cocking his rifle at a Palestinian youth who confronted him while holding brass knuckles. Bennett stormed onto his Facebook page, embracing David in a warm post in which he said he would have done the same. By so doing, Bennett gave the incident political overtones, appropriating David the Nahlawi for the right wing. He was joined by several Knesset members from the extreme right, such as Orit Strock and Moshe Feiglin, who "liked" the post and took pictures of themselves with signs reading "I, too, am with David the Nahlawi."