HaBayit HaYehudi Chairman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, together with his party’s No. 2, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, launched a campaign for “Operation Defensive Shield 2” on Nov. 22. In short, while invoking 2002's Operation Defensive Shield, they are calling on the government to embark on an extensive military operation in Judea and Samaria to curb the current wave of terror.
Both Bennett and Shaked, members not only of the government but also of the tight-lipped diplomatic-security Cabinet, apparently prefer to ignore the minor detail of discretion and instead express their opinions in the media about the military steps they believe Israel should take. Yet this is the least problematic aspect of their militant appeals. The Israeli public has already grown accustomed to Bennett and Shaked's antagonistic and empty statements designed to show their constituents that they are fulfilling their public mission, thus earning them political capital among their hardcore supporters.