When Israel’s 34th government was sworn in on May 14, pundits predicted that it would not last long. They said that the 59 members of the opposition in the 20th Knesset would make the lives of the 61 coalition members miserable. They expected Isaac Herzog, leader of the Zionist Camp, and Yair Lapid, head of Yesh Atid, to either find their way quickly into the new government or to drag Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over sizzling hot coals, all the way to early elections. On paper, the predictions appeared valid. The desiccated majority that Netanyahu relies on, and that so many ministers are, effectively, confined to their ministries — away from the Knesset — provides some added advantage to the opposition. In theory at least, the narrower the coalition, the greater space the opposition has to operate. The chances of opposition members obtaining a majority for their proposed legislation is inversely proportionate to the number of Knesset members supporting the government. Herzog, head of the opposition and thus representing 59 Knesset members — or 53 if one omits Yisrael Beitenu, which often sides with Netanyahu — gets generous radio and television airtime.

Yet, despite the grim predictions that accompanied the formation of Netanyahu’s fourth government, it appears that talk of its impending demise was somewhat premature. Netanyahu seems more worried about the lack of confidence in him among the Democratic minority in the US Congress, stemming from Iranian nuclear deal antics, than a no-confidence motion in the Knesset. Even now, with President Barack Obama having won assurance that the agreement with Iran — the “bad agreement,” as Netanyahu calls it — will survive congressional review, there are no signs of internal pressure on Netanyahu in Israel. He may have failed in his life’s mission of saving Israel from a “second Holocaust,” but he still has no plans to retire to his villa in Caesarea. If Netanyahu's resounding failure to block the nuclear agreement didn’t send shock waves through his government, what could possibly put its existence at risk?

The unanticipated discovery of a gas field off the Egyptian coast, potentially the largest field in the Mediterranean, should have led Netanyahu to rethink Israel's natural gas resource distribution plan. The new discovery, however, didn't stop him from running to the Knesset to get the plan outline approved, although it benefits Yitzhak Tshuva, whose company is drilling in the Tamar gas field, and the US-based gas operation Noble Energy much more than it benefits the Israeli public. If this didn't stop Netanyahu, what possible failure could shake his position as premier and send him home?

As time passes, there is a growing sense from the opposition that the dogs are just barking, or maybe even asleep, as the caravan passes by. This became rather obvious the first week in September during the Knesset’s second and third vote on amendments to the Public Broadcasting Law to allow the creation of a new broadcasting corporation. Yahadut HaTorah member Yisrael Eichler and Minister of Science, Technology and Space Ofir Akunis took advantage of the absence of most opposition Knesset members to insert a clause in the legislation that would ban journalists with the public broadcasting network from expressing their opinions on radio and television.