Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s sworn followers are beginning to wonder if he has begun to lose it. Netanyahu’s people promised a "dramatic announcement" on primetime TV, but his appearance on the evening of Jan. 7 was far from it and very far from what he usually delivers.

Netanyahu is one of the best orators in the history of Israeli politics who knows how to steal the show with magnetic and impressive performances. On Monday evening he did just the opposite: This was a pale, unconvincing, frightened Netanyahu who looked like a trapped animal surrounded by hunters. Still, it is possible that it was precisely the impression that Netanyahu wanted to make. He knows how to manipulate his constituents' emotions and motivate them to try to save him; as he did on the eve of the last elections in March 2015.

“It was the appearance of someone who finally put two and two together, who suddenly understood that he lost control over his situation and his fate,” said a senior Israeli political figure who was loyal to Netanyahu for a long time, adding to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “Evidently he understood that the attorney general is really going to indict him and announce his decision even before elections.”

Netanyahu made a number of mistakes on the way to the appearance. They began at five p.m., when his office spread the word that the prime minister would deliver “a dramatic announcement” at eight p.m. In Israel, that kind of buildup can cause panic and sweep an entire country with crazy rumors. This is exactly what happened on Monday afternoon. As the clock ticked closer to eight, Netanyahu’s people understood the terrible mistake they had made and tried to lighten the atmosphere. It's nothing so dramatic, Netanyahu’s associates began to leak to the media, calm down. But it was too little, too late.