Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made many mistakes during the election campaign he led, which resulted in a humiliating defeat at the polls. One of the most significant among them was his attack on the chairman of the HaBayit HaYehudi Party, Naftali Bennett, after the latter expressed support for disobeying military orders on ideological grounds.
Against the advice of many of his aides, Netanyahu mounted frontal attacks on Bennett, giving special interviews and threatening that anyone who mentions insubordination would not have a seat in his cabinet. The message was clear. Netanyahu was certain that this attack would cause grave damage to the leader of HaBayit HaYehudi, who had eaten away at chunks of the Likud electorate, but in the following days he realized that all of the damage was to his side. Bennett, his nemesis, continued to soar at his expense.
