The eve of Nov. 26, about a month and a half ago, was very special for MK Tzipi Hotovely. It was on that date, close to midnight, that the results of the Likud primaries were publicized, and she became the party’s First Lady. The young MK from the Likud (34 years old) had another reason to feel good about herself: she did this without the help of party leader Benjamin Netanyahu — and to be more precise, she did it despite his opposition.

Over the last four years, Hotovely succeeded in angering the prime minister more than once — probably causing him to regret helping her get elected to the outgoing Knesset. In the 2009 elections, it was Netanyahu who helped blaze the trail for the young, 30-year-old television woman toward a realistic place on the Likud’s Knesset list.

Netanyahu was then chairman of the opposition, and was deeply impressed by Hotovely’s performance as right-wing representative on the Channel 10 “Council of the Wise” program. Every week, the program hosted a fiery panel of political commentators. Hotovely, a still-anonymous, religious lawyer succeeded in putting up an impressive fight against the vociferous, aggressive group of men, including former ministers Aryeh Deri and [late] Tommy Lapid, and journalists Amnon Dankner and Gideon Levy.

Hotovely’s weekly appearances transformed her into a popular figure on the right, and Netanyahu recognized this. He looked for new stars for the Likud list, she looked to make her way in politics, and this confluence of interests transformed Tzipi Hotovely into a new Knesset member — and perhaps, in the near future, even into a minister.