The political peaks were supposed to make this week one of the most exciting for the government, but the wave of terror that has swept the country has made it extremely difficult since its inception.
The escalation has aroused the opposition from a hibernation hiatus, and it intends to continue to ignite the rage on the right street, which could become a real danger to the stability of the coalition.
It was supposed to be one of the most exciting weeks the Bennett-Lapid government has had to date: after the prime minister's historic summit in Sharm el-Sheikh last week, the foreign minister hosted his own historic summit in the Negev, and the defense minister tried to organize a summit with Abu Mazen and King Abdullah.
Gantz finally settled for a solo visit to the Jordanian king's palace, a day before the president landed there and for the first time received a public and official reception, and yes, it too was historic.
But Reality, as always, had other plans.
Instead of celebrating political highs and peace peaks, editions reported around the clock scenes of terrorist attacks and mass funerals, and political credit battles at the top gave way to frequent security assessments.
Thus, it has become the most difficult week for the Bennett-Lapid government to date. From Be'er Sheva to Hadera to Bnei Brak, three terrorist attacks in less than a week create a huge, real and immediate challenge for it: to restore a sense of personal security.
The prime minister, who in recent weeks has inhaled the air of the summits in the Kremlin and Sharm, and was in the midst of an off-state-political campaign, was forced to cut off all international mediation campaigns at once and return to life itself.
Television polls conducted this week showed that 60-70% of the public are dissatisfied with the government's handling of the security issue, that is, even among those who usually support the government.
Netanyahu's entourage were more optimistic this week than ever about the continued survival of the government. "If there had been no recess, the government might have already fallen," said one of his associates.
On Tuesday evening, a few hours after the attack in Bnei Brak, he was in his office with Yariv Levin, Amir Ohana and Shlomo Qara, and rumors were already circulating in the Likud about a dramatic development toward the overthrow of the government. As far as is known, this is just Pike News and psychological warfare, but that's only true for now.
The Likud is looking forward to "after the holiday," expecting one person to declare a revolt and from there a dynamic of collapse will begin. A national-security agenda will allow them to elaborate by then on the capillaries on the right-wing sides of the coalition.
Photo: Bennett with Blinken, this week (Flash 90, Olivier Fitoussi)