It really seemed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition was on its way out on Nov. 16-17. Resigning Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman was in sync with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who had his own reasons for wanting speedy elections in the near future. HaBayit HaYehudi’s Chairman Naftali Bennett also exploited Liberman’s resignation to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu: Either you appoint me defense minister or HaBayit HaYehudi leaves the coalition to cause the immediate overturning of the government. (After the resignation of Liberman and his party, Netanyahu was left with a narrow majority coalition of 61 Knesset seats.) Even the ultra-Orthodox parties silently accepted the prevailing belief that the current Netanyahu government was on its way out. It seemed that only a miracle would allow Netanyahu to reboot the coalition, which would celebrate its four-year anniversary in less than six months. Netanyahu is a veteran miracle conjurer when it comes to politics, and in order to succeed this time as well he extricated his winning card yet again, his ultimate ace — the security situation. This was the card that won him the last elections in 2015, even though no real security dangers threatened Israel at the time. Netanyahu knows how to rouse sleeping demons, to concoct threats or embellish them for his political needs.

Netanyahu met with Bennett on Nov. 16, but no agreements were reached. In fact, Netanyahu had no intentions of entrusting the security helm to the hands of the hot-headed young education minister. On Nov. 18, Netanyahu met with Kahlon, but again no agreements were reached. Kahlon made it clear to Netanyahu that a narrow coalition of 61 Knesset members would inflict damage on the Israeli economy and it was best to hold elections instead. Therefore, Netanyahu announced that he would make a live statement to the media at 8 p.m. — on prime time TV, which is especially dear to his heart. Bennett heard this and in order to raise the stakes and the pressure on Netanyahu announced that he and Ayelet Shaked would release a statement the next morning. The entire political system began to pack their bags. Associates of Bennett and Shaked briefed the press that they had reached the decision to quit the coalition, unless Netanyahu would acquiesce and appoint Bennett as defense minister.

Netanyahu’s speech was about eight minutes long. He spoke in the first person, ostensibly from the depths of his heart, but veteran Netanyahu-watchers knew they were watching a show, a ruse and a trap. He devoted his opening words to his personal record as combat soldier and officer in the Sayeret Matkal commando unit and to the death of his brother Yoni Netanyahu in the Entebbe Operation. Netanyahu spoke about his own injury in the operation for the release of hijacked Sabena Flight 571, a skirmish in which he was almost killed in the Suez Canal and the many friends he had lost in the army over the years. He praised and glorified the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Shin Bet, the Mossad and even the police, which is currently conducting five criminal investigations against him and his wife. The prime minister spoke about life and death decisions, about the need to make fateful decisions without regard to one’s political agenda because national security aces all the other considerations, etc. He spoke like a leader during wartime — except that there is no war.

It was at this point that Netanyahu abandoned precise language for vague allusions. He said, "For obvious reasons, it is impossible to present to the public the full picture seen by the IDF chief of staff, IDF generals, the Shin Bet head, the Mossad head and myself. This is why you see only part of a very vast campaign that we are in the midst of, and that I am committed to follow through. … I will not say here tonight when and how we will act. … I have a clear plan; I know what needs to be done and when, and will do that."