On Oct. 20, the chairman of the HaBayit HaYehudi Party, Trade and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, will visit the Druze village of Daliyat al-Karmel. That is where he chose to hold the final rally of his party’s campaign ahead of the Oct. 22 local elections. Bennett has high hopes of conquering the periphery in the voting. And not simply the periphery: Bennett is seeking to mark his territory in the farthest, most difficult of places. He is fielding candidates to head local councils, for example in the southern towns of Sderot and Kiryat Malachi. Altogether, HaBayit HaYehudi is running 88 lists, comprising more than 50 women and dozens of young people.

Bennett, considered one of the political heroes of the 2011 social protest, wishes to leverage his achievements in the Knesset elections — which were held on Jan. 22 — and the respectable place he won in government into success in local politics, too. He hopes the results will provide him with grassroots support in the next Knesset elections.

In recent weeks, Bennett has been ending nearly every workday with hectic campaign stops around the country, lasting late into the night. The goal he has set for himself: the election of at least one HaBayit HaYehudi Party candidate as mayor or head of a local council and 100 party representatives as members of local councils.

He views Daliyat al-Karmel as a symbol. It is a Druze village whose sons serve in the military, yet is located at the bottom of Israel’s socioeconomic ladder. This is the place being targeted by the skullcap-wearing Bennett, who heads a quintessentially religious party, parts of which are deeply rooted in the far right wing.