Mr. NetanyahuтАЩs allies insist that he will be able to balance these competing demands.
тАЬAnyone who knows Prime Minister Netanyahu knows that his personal and political abilities, in particular, are above question,тАЭ said May Golan, a minister without portfolio in Mr. NetanyahuтАЩs cabinet.
She discounted reports of divisions in the cabinet.
тАЬThere is a huge gap between what is published in the media and the ongoing management of the coalition,тАЭ Ms. Golan said. тАЬOur coalition is a homogeneous, right-wing, Zionist coalition тАФ with identical goals, identical values тАЛтАЛand identical objectives.тАЭ
Some analysts reckon that Mr. NetanyahuтАЩs far-right allies are unlikely to abandon him because they know that they have few other routes to power without him. But critics say he is in danger of losing control of both his government and the country.
Every move he takes to placate President Biden, such as sending an envoy to meet with Palestinian leaders in Jordan on Sunday, angers his far-right allies and encourages them to take countermeasures.
After Mr. Netanyahu criticized settler attacks in the West Bank this week, his national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called for an end to what he called the governmentтАЩs тАЬpolicy of containment.тАЭ Mr. Ben-Gvir also turned up at an unauthorized settler outpost, calling for it to be kept in place even as security forces evicted settlers who had moved there.
The contortions inherent within Mr. NetanyahuтАЩs strategy were particularly apparent on Sunday, when the Biden administration announced that the Israelis and the Palestinians had agreed to several de-escalatory measures, including a freeze on new settlement announcements. Hours later, amid criticism from Mr. NetanyahuтАЩs right flank, the Israeli government said there had been тАЬno construction freezeтАЭ and тАЬno change in Israeli policy.тАЭ
тАЬIs he riding the tiger, or is the tiger riding him?тАЭ Ben Caspit, another Netanyahu biographer, asked in a column in mid-February in the newspaper Maariv.
