Prime Minister Naftali Bennett angered many people online when he arrived at the command center where security forces were engaged in the search for the fugitive inmates who escaped Gilboa Prison on Shabbat.
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On Saturday night, at the conclusion of Shabbat, Bennett took to Twitter to share that he had taken part in the efforts: "Early in the morning, I arrived at the security forces' field command center to closely monitor the search.
"The activity was determined and consistent, the key to success is a smooth and quiet collaboration between all those involved," he tweeted.
Four of the six Palestinian security prisoners who escaped from the Gilboa Prison in northern Israel on Monday are now back in authorities' custody, the Israel Police confirmed in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Zakaria Zubeidi, the former commander of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and Islamic Jihad operative Mohammed al-Arida were apprehended by the police counterterrorism unit near the northern town of Shibli–Umm al-Ghanam at around 5 a.m.
The police said the two were stopped by Northern District Police officers in a parking lot for trucks that was canvassed as part of the manhunt.
Yet to some online, Bennett's arrival at the command center on Shabbat was unnecessary.
"Trying to understand what security purpose there was in the prime minister arriving for the victory shot on a holy Shabbat night. Which led to the mass desecration of Shabbat. And this is the first kippah-wearing prime minister in state history," Yishai Cohen, a report for the Haredi Kikar Hashabat website, tweeted.
Menachem Kolodetzky, the editor of the Haredi Actualic news site, also mocked Bennett on Twitter, writing: "All week long, he disappeared. Until Shabbat came. And then he had a strong urge to desecrate it."
Commentator Yisrael Cohen of the ultra-Orthodox Kol Barama radio station tweeted: "It's unclear why Bennett needed to openly desecrate Shabbat and drive in the midst of Shabbat with a government vehicle and a kippah on his head. Going by the facts, it seems it wasn't a military operation or intelligence that exposed where the terrorists were hiding – but rather simple information [provided] by concerned citizens, so Bennett didn't need to command over any operation, [this was the] desecration of Shabbat, pure and simple."
Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana, a member of Bennett's Yamina party and a former combat squadron commander who worked on Saturdays within that role, defended the prime minister online.
"To all the slanderers, six terrorists who escaped prison and are walking free this is [about] saving lives. A religious and Shabbat-keeping prime minister is not authorized by obligated to manage the campaign on Shabbat and any other day of the year. If he hadn't acted in this manner, it would be a desecration of God and embezzlement of his position. I stand with the security forces," he said.
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