TEL AVIV — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be back on top of his game, orchestrating fights against Iran’s regional proxies and reversing the nadir his popularity reached in public opinion polls following the Oct. 7 disaster that occurred on his watch. 

The Hezbollah drone that exploded near his home in the Mediterranean coastal town of Caesarea Oct. 19 was the latest in a series of violent incidents he is leveraging to his advantage, vowing that Iran will pay for what he described as its proxy’s attempt to assassinate him and his wife. Netanyahu and his wife were not home, and the blast caused damage but no casualties. The question is whether and how it will affect the long-expected Israeli retaliation against Iran for its Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel.

Speaking with Al-Monitor, a source close to the prime minister recalled a rocket attack by Islamic Jihad in Gaza targeting a live broadcast election rally in 2019 that forced Netanyahu’s bodyguards to rush him offstage. 

“The pictures were very humiliating," the source said on condition of anonymity. Netanyahu, the source added, was taken to Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, where he ordered the killing of Islamic Jihad leader Baha Abu al-Atta, which occurred two months later. The source described the incident to demonstrate that Netanyahu takes attacks on himself personally.