It's interesting how power and influence are projected and perceived in democracies. In short, some people's opinions count for more than others. This is a function both of how they perceive themselves and of how others perceive them. For example, Finance Minister Yuval Shteinitz recently observed that Israel's Supreme Court rules without any regard for the financial consequences of its decisions. The point is both obviously true and not especially damning since a strong case can be made that (at least in this one small regard) the Justices are doing what they are supposed to do. Nevertheless, the demagoguery that issued forth from a few entirely unrepresentative left-wing professors and know-nothing journalists with bully pulpits sent Shteinitz looking for cover and ended any reasoned debate on the topic.

On the other hand, Defense Minister Ehud Barak treats settlers threatening to defy the building freeze as if they were enemy combatants and makes clear that he intends to use the army to enforce it. Let's ignore the merits of Barak's case as well as the merits of the case in favor of refusing military orders; this doesn't concern me here at all. The point is that Barak does not take the religious Zionist crowd seriously. He just brushes them off like water off a duck's back. Clearly, they have failed to project power in a convincing manner.

I'm afraid, though, that he has misjudged -- or at least that there is now a disconnect between how Barak perceives religious Zionists and how they perceive themselves (at least the ones under 30). Barak is an old fart who carries with him old, entirely justified, stereotypes of Mafdalnikim as goody-goody two-shoes pushovers. He is likely to soon discover, however, that the Roshei Yeshiva he is pushing around are the last of the burganim. If he tries to send in Kfir units to subdue settlers, he may be forced to re-evaluate some of those stereotypes.