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.
