Ayelet Shaked, Israel’s Firebrand Minister of Justice
Shaked has used her position and her telegenic presence to promote a host of controversial measures, from advocating to revoke the citizenship of Israeli Arabs convicted of terrorism to scrutinizing left-wing nonprofit organizations that receive large sums of money from European governments to promote causes like BDS. Each of these measures won her precious moments in the limelight—and plenty of criticism. Yet, oddly for a politician, she seems genuinely unmoved by public opinion. She speaks with the same unguarded passion that catapulted her from a tireless grassroots campaigner for right-wing causes—against the biased liberal media, against Israeli artists boycotting the settlements, against the illegal African immigrants who cross the Israeli border in search of shelter and work—to the pinnacle of Israeli politics.
Her candor is real. After having served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office director between 2006 and 2008, Shaked eventually found it hard to keep her criticism of the Likud party private, choosing instead to abandon her political home and join The Jewish Home, the religious Zionist party led by her friend and political partner Naftali Bennett. Her outspoken opinions and assertive style first won her a seat in the Knesset and, eventually, her own portfolio, not to mention the disdain of many in Israel’s media and academic elites.
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