In a sign that Israel’s electoral system has gone off the rails, the Likud's newest campaign hints that Blue and White Party head Benny Gantz is insane. Netanyahu and senior Likud members don’t say so expressly, but the internet is full of video clips, hints, text messages and tweets questioning Gantz’s emotional state. The meaning is clear to all: Netanyahu is trying to paint Gantz as a weak individual with an unstable personality.

There were those in Blue and White who considered answering Netanyahu with his own language — hinting that the prime minister learned to identify unstable personalities through personal experience in his own home — but no one seriously planned on using this doomsday weapon.

Blue and White (the “generals’ party"), which is challenging Netanyahu’s never-ending reign, views the Likud’s new campaign as a desperate gamble. Netanyahu is firing in all directions, his campaign plagued by strategic mishaps. Even Netanyahu’s most diligent campaigner and fan President Donald Trump was not able to steal the show. Netanyahu’s dream week, which was supposed to climax with his ecstatic speech to AIPAC a day after receiving US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, fell flat. The prime minister was forced to cancel his appearance and rush back to Israel immediately after the White House meeting to put out the fires that are wreaking havoc on his most vulnerable, hot-button site: the Gaza Strip.

Despite everything, preliminary polls in the middle of the week showed two encouraging points for Netanyahu. The anti-Gantz campaign has had results: The Blue and White leader fell in polls over the critical question regarding his suitability to head the government. Netanyahu also seems to not be paying a significant electoral price for his hesitancy regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip. Likud members and his right-wing base are kvetching and criticizing him in talkbacks and on the social networks, but still support him. Netanyahu receives low scores on everything regarding the security situation, but the right-wing block still leads with a clear advantage.