Netanyahu has kept the extreme religious parties on board - but at a steep cost. He has given them what they demand above all else: autonomy for their community. That is why Israeli police have turned a blind eye throughout the pandemic as the ultra-Orthodox have refused to close their schools during lockdowns and turned out in enormous numbers - usually without masks - for rabbis' funerals.
But Netanyahu's endless indulgence of the ultra-Orthodox has served only to alienate the more secular parts of the far right.
Betrayed on annexationWorse, as Netanyahu has focused his energies on ways to draw attention away from his corruption trial, he has chosen to play fast and loose with the far right's political and emotional priorities - most especially on annexation. In the recent, back-to-back election campaigns he has made increasingly earnest promises to formally annex swaths of the West Bank.
But he has repeatedly failed to make good on his pledge.
The betrayal hit hardest after the election a year ago. With then-President Donald Trump's blessing, Netanyahu vowed to quickly begin annexation of large sections of the West Bank. But in the end Netanyahu ducked out, preferring to sign a "peace deal" with Gulf states on the confected condition that annexation be delayed.
The move clearly indicated that, if it aided his political survival, Netanyahu would placate foreign capitals - behaviour reminiscent of the centrists - rather than advance the core goals of the far right. As a result, there is a growing exasperation with Netanyahu. Sections of the far right want someone new, someone invested in their cause - not in his own political and personal manoeuvrings.
In the fashion of Middle Eastern dictators, Netanyahu has groomed no successor. He has cultivated a learnt helplessness in his own ideological camp, and the princes of the settlements are fearful of how they will cope without him. He has been their nursemaid for too long.
But like rebellious teenagers, they want a taste of freedom - and to wreak more havoc than Netanyahu has ever allowed.
They hope to break free of the political centre of gravity he has engineered for himself. If they finally manage it, we may yet look back on the Netanyahu era as a time of relative moderation and calm.
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