Seven months ago, it looked as if Knesset member Yifat Shasha-Biton's political career might be behind her. When the new coronavirus government formed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed her that he was forced to move her from her post as housing minister — a position she had been appointed to the year before — to the seemingly insignificant position of chair of the Knesset’s Coronavirus Committee. It appeared to signal an abrupt end to her brief political career. At just 47 years old, she was pushed to the back benches of the Likud. From there, it seemed like she was on her way out of politics.

But then, something remarkable happened. Shasha-Biton, who has a doctorate in education (just like Jill Biden), took the lemon and made lemonade. It was the end of the first coronavirus lockdown. People were tired, frustrated and depressed, after living under so many restrictions. The economy was suffering. The anti-Netanyahu protests were gaining momentum because of the prime minister’s mismanagement of the crisis. His rivals accused him of intentionally locking people in their homes, just so that they wouldn’t take to the streets and demonstrate against him. They said the closure was “political.”

Shasha-Biton was able to use this sentiment to jump-start her career and send it soaring. Every day she moderated debates in her committee, which ran counter to the positions of the government and its leader. She invited experts, citizens, and physicians to address them, and followed an approach that called the government’s official positions into question. This reached a high point when she was able to overturn a government decision and reopen gyms and swimming pools. Netanyahu was furious. He tried to haul her back into line only to discover a little too late that the anonymous member of Knesset whom he had appointed to this role was actually quite the contrarian, and that she was causing him serious electoral damage.

By standing up to Netanyahu from within the Likud, Shasha-Biton became a hot political and public brand of her own. A restaurant in the town of Holon even named a fish dish after her. This was its way of thanking her for preventing the government from locking down the restaurants. Before long, people were talking about her as the next big thing in politics. Polls even predicted that if she founded her own party, it would win six seats. Inevitably, she was courted by the leaders of the other parties. Yamina party Chairman Naftali Bennett was already in advanced negotiations with her to have her join his list.