Hundreds of Likud members jammed an events venue in the suburban Tel Aviv town of Petah Tikvah in the evening hours of Dec. 18 for yet another of the many party primary rallies being held these days for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When he started speaking, many of them called out, “The people are sovereign,” “The people demand legal justice” and “Ohana is king.” They were referring to Amir Ohana, whom Netanyahu appointed justice minister in his caretaker government in June.

From the get-go, the appointment was Netanyahu’s way of poking the country’s legal system in the eye just weeks before the start of legal proceedings against him on suspicions of corruption. His young associate Ohana was already known for his confrontational rhetoric against the “legal junta” allegedly running the country. He defended Netanyahu and lashed out at the state prosecution at every opportunity.

After six months on the job, Ohana, 43, is one of the most popular ministers in the Likud. The Likud rank and file regard the son of immigrants from Morocco who grew up in the southern town of Beersheba as an authentic representative. Many outside the Likud also identify with him. Ohana has also upgraded his status among the ideological, religious and right-wing constituency, which appears untroubled by his being a declared homosexual raising two children with his partner. In the view of this constituency, Ohana has managed to stand tall and expose what it sees as the legal system’s two-faced persecution of the right-wing regime. Ohana offers Likud members a more militant model of former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. Shaked had also constantly challenged and provoked the courts and the legal system, but she did so in dialogue with those at its helm and minimized her open clashes with them.

Ohana is a whole different story. He sparks disagreement and emotions on the left side of the political map, and also among the “soft” moderate right, which regard his behavior as deeply harmful to the independence of the rule of law and democracy. On social media, his fans hail him as a “king” and “killer,” while his detractors denigrate him as a “rotten villain.”