What did Ben Gvir and Smotrich need this government for? Wouldn't it have been better for them to remain in the Opposition?
Ben Gvir, for example, as in the past, would have arrived first at every terrorist attack, been congenially greeted by the anxious citizens, would have listened avidly to the cries from all sides of "Death to the Arabs" or the more modified version which he insisted upon during his more moderate periods of "Death to the Terrorists." The public would surround him, hanging expectantly upon his every word, and Ben Gvir would not have disappointed them. He always knew who was to blame for the terrorist acts and whose hands were bloodied by the victims. If it was the Leftists government, the address was very clear. And if it was the Rightist camp, there too, he was able to find the current Leftist-leaner, who, him alone, was responsible for the lack of national security resulting in attacks and Jewish fatalities.
Those were his good days in the Opposition, Ben Gvir's Golden Era when always, but always, he had in his baggage good solutions to stem the terrorism and eliminate the perpetrators. What was he lacking? Why did he have to go and stick his healthy head into the sickbed of the government?
Today he has no one to lay the blame upon: he is part of the government, a top minister in it, a member of the security cabinet. And yet, all that took place in the previous governments is being repeated, and in a big way! 13 murdered since the beginning of the secular year. Violence has reared its head and is firing in every direction.
Ben Gvir can no longer blithely appear and receive 'cherries' for his firm stand against terrorism. This time, he is aware of the shortcomings of might, in the lack of power in stopping every terrorist who decides to go forth in a 'private' murderous manhunt. It is impossible to protect drivers stuck in traffic jams in the event that some armed murderer materializes from nowhere and begins shooting at random cars. There is no way to guard bus stops from armed vehicles firing as they whiz by, shooting arbitrarily at innocent bystanders. The reality is very complex, difficult, one that cannot be solved by slogans.
