On the afternoon of Jan. 21, settlers from Hebron entered two vacant houses near the Tomb of the Patriarchs. The invaders claimed they had bought the houses legally, but failed to present the police with bills of sale to prove it. They refused to vacate the premises and became unruly. By the end of the week, there was a minor political crisis after Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon made the obvious decision and gave orders for the settlers to be evicted.

The prime minister was away at the time, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Ya’alon, who was aware of the implications of such an action for the stability of the ruling coalition, acted quickly and resolutely. He knew he would be attacked, but probably miscalculated the intensity of the coordinated attack on him from within the coalition. Not only did radical Knesset members like Bezalel Smotrich lash out at him, but also senior Cabinet ministers like Yariv Levin and Ze’ev Elkin, and even Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein. It was a full day later that the prime minister backed Ya’alon up.

The eviction was planned for Jan. 22, a Friday morning. Over the course of several hours, the office of the defense minister tried to explain to the settlers that without the ownership documents, eviction was the only option. But the other side refused to listen. Not a single representative of the settlers’ leadership, a minister or right-wing Knesset member was willing to mediate between the sides. Ya’alon, a senior Likud member, was subjected to insults and ridiculous accusations such as claims that he was discriminating against the settlers. He was left virtually on his own in the battle over the rule of law.

After the eviction, the storm that erupted with the invasion of the houses grew wilder. Smotrich and two Likud lawmakers — Oren Hazan and Ayoob Kara — presented an ultimatum, announcing that they would boycott Knesset votes until the settlers are allowed back into the premises from which they were evicted. Senior Likud ministers pointed fingers at Ya’alon and claimed that to score points with the general public, he was taking advantage of the prime minister’s absence to stir things up — even at the expense of endangering the integrity of the coalition. The defense minister’s explanations that the settlers' actions were a gross violation of the law were to no avail. He and his people kept saying that settling the territories was a project dear to his heart, but no one on the other side would listen.