Aryeh Deri
Aryeh DeriYonatan Sindel/Flash 90

Several Likud and Jewish Home ministers and MKs spoke in front of thousands of Israelis late Monday night, in an anti-terror rally held in front of the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem. Hours later, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu enacted a slew of anti-terror measures.

But the morning after, at least one minister claimed that participants should have refrained from joining the public protest. 

"The only forum in which ministers can talk is in the government, the Cabinet, or private conversations," Economics Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) stated to Army Radio Tuesday morning. "This is not right; it weakens the government and the Prime Minister, it weakens the defense, it weakens the Defense Minister's power - there's no need." 

Deri took his criticism one step further, intimating that the show of support for thousands of Judea-Samaria citizens affected by the rise in terror is encouraging vigilante justice. 

"Is there another government? After all, everyone wants this one," he snapped. "It is clear that this transmits the message, God forbid, that an allegedly sluggish response inspires others to take the law into their own hands, so this is a dangerous thing." 

Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze'ev Elkin (Likud) disagreed, however, noting that - in his view - the rally was also in support of Netanyahu. 

"I do not see this as a demonstration against the government - not the way the organizers presented it," he explained. "This was a protest which expressed demands and expectations from the government. It is the duty of ministers to be responsive to the public - especially to the public who chose them." 

"Even if there was criticism here, I think it was the duty of ministers from the national camp to stand with the community."