Anyone communicating these days with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most intimate associates comes away with the impression that Netanyahu’s mood is fluctuating between hubris and depression.

Indeed, the prime minister lives in a schizophrenic reality. On the one hand, Netanyahu has a dream-come-true American president who won’t say the words “two-state solution” and is in the process of withdrawing from the Iran deal. The anti-Obama at its best. On the other hand, Netanyahu is increasingly tangled in police investigations. Reports by Israel’s Channel 10, for instance, raise new questions concerning the nature of the ties Netanyahu maintained with Israeli billionaire Arnon Milchan. Channel 10 reported at the beginning of October that the police are collecting testimonies in a new affair as part of the criminal investigation that Netanyahu received gifts or other benefits from several businesspeople.

The police are also investigating whether Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes discussed a secret deal for positive coverage of Netanyahu in exchange for reducing the circulation of the free Israel Hayom newspaper (Yedioth’s main competitor). According to reports, in both cases police might recommend to the attorney general to indict the prime minister. Netanyahu is fighting for his political life, and he excels at it.

One of Netanyahu’s close associates told Al-Monitor that the prime minister is very confident about his political future. Netanyahu, he said, keeps warning his associates of the unprecedented dangers faced by Israel from the Iran-Hezbollah axis and the Hamas threat of hijacking the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. According to Netanyahu, his leadership is absolutely essential to guarantee the country’s security in such dangerous times.