“After the [2014] Protective Edge campaign, the blabbermouths promised us that there would be deterrence and quiet for many long years. But it turns out that [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniyeh isn’t afraid of [Education Minister Naftali] Bennett, and [Hamas army branch commander] Mohammed Deif couldn’t care less about [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. The time has come to establish an Israeli government whose leaders will keep their mouths shut but give the enemy hell.” These were the final words of a belligerent announcement released April 18 by opposition leader Isaac Herzog, after the media broke news of the cross-border attack tunnel that was dug by Hamas from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory.

Herzog's words were so combative that one might have been fooled into thinking that the announcement had been released by the office of former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman. Yisrael Beitenu leader Liberman has argued several times in recent years that the solution in Gaza must involve Israeli land forces entering and conquering Gaza.

But when the political trend is to pander to the right, then even someone who is supposed to lead the left-wing camp and be an alternative to the current government speaks the same language as the chairman of HaBayit HaYehudi, Naftali Bennett. Herzog hones in on the security weak point of the Netanyahu government: Terrorism is not stopping, and Hamas is getting stronger. The problem is with the hollow, meaningless statement in his response when he called for Israel to “give Hamas hell.”

Herzog’s choice of words is not good news, politically or publicly, for someone who seeks an alternative government. Liberman can say, “Give them hell,” and sound convincing and authentic, as someone who would actually carry out his words if given the chance. But when Herzog is saying this, not only is he not convincing anyone, he also shoots himself, and the camp he represents, in the foot.