Vocal opponent of public transportation during holidays and weekends, Habayit Hayehudi MK Ayelet Shaked received scathing criticism on Facebook over the weekend for posting a picture of her hiking during Sukkot. Shaked posted a picture of her on a hike in the southern Golan Heights on Thursday, the first day of the Sukkot holiday, and recommended that people visit the area. As a response to her post, a new Facebook page called "Ayelet Metayelet" [Ayelet hikes] was created. "Apparently the picture was taken during the holiday. A few weeks ago, Shaked said during an interview that she opposes public transportation on Shabbat. Shaked, secular and owning a car, can travel and hike during Shabbat and holidays. Many of us cannot," the page description read. A Facebook user wrote, "You can drive there during the holiday because you have your own car, which I pay for as a taxpayer. I do not own a car, and thus cannot go there, because you and your friends in the Knesset forbid public transportation on Shabbat and holidays." Some remarks were more sarcastic: "What bus gets there? Ah, right ... religious coercion and all that, I forgot." The backlash to Shaked's comments continued on Saturday and expanded beyond social media. Protesters marched from Milano Square to Tel Aviv's Bavli neighborhood, where Shaked resides. Protesters said it was a "quiet protest march. A Shabbat hike, one that those without our own vehicles we could do." One member of the rally said police had deployed in large numbers ahead of the protest, and that there were more police officers than protesters. Members of Habayit Hayehudi have said that the anti-Shaked protests are in fact an organized campaign by the left-wing New Israel Fund and other groups. "Every moment that the New Israel Fund and its organizations are focusing on MK Shaked is to the nation's benefit. It leaves less time for them to slander Israeli soldiers with war-crime accusations," a statement released by Habayit Hayehudi said.
