HaBayit HaYehudi Chairman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, together with his party’s No. 2, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, launched a campaign for “Operation Defensive Shield 2” on Nov. 22. In short, while invoking 2002's Operation Defensive Shield, they are calling on the government to embark on an extensive military operation in Judea and Samaria to curb the current wave of terror.

Both Bennett and Shaked, members not only of the government but also of the tight-lipped diplomatic-security Cabinet, apparently prefer to ignore the minor detail of discretion and instead express their opinions in the media about the military steps they believe Israel should take. Yet this is the least problematic aspect of their militant appeals. The Israeli public has already grown accustomed to Bennett and Shaked's antagonistic and empty statements designed to show their constituents that they are fulfilling their public mission, thus earning them political capital among their hardcore supporters.

The incessant terror attacks against Israeli citizens, primarily settlers, are the impetus for their recent statements. Residents of the Etzion settlement bloc are experiencing attacks on a daily basis and feel abandoned at a time when their lives are on the line. They therefore direct their wrath at the government, and HaBayit HaYehudi has naturally become the address at which to express their dissatisfaction with the government's response.

The situation is problematic for HaBayit HaYehudi, the party of the settlers. Bennett and Shaked understand that to avoid pitfalls in the eyes of party members, they must distance themselves from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In other words, they have to publicly paint him as weak and ineffectual and present themselves as firm, assertive policy leaders in the Cabinet. For electoral reasons, they also cannot allow themselves to be viewed as passive compared to Yisrael Beitenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman, who is gaining in the polls. Liberman, from his position in the opposition, has been persistently calling on the government to enter Hebron and resume targeted killings in Gaza. Thus, with the goal of curbing potential criticism aimed at them and deflecting fire to Netanyahu, Bennett and Shaked have called on the government, in which they are senior members, to embark on an Operation Defensive Shield 2.