The recent war between Hamas and Israel and the civil unrest between Jews and Arabs in Israel dealt a strong blow to efforts of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents to unseat the Israeli leader after a series of inconclusive elections. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the political ‘magician’ has ruled Israel for 15 years in all, outlasting political rivals, waving away corruption charges, sapping Palestinian aspirations and once again now turning the conflict to his advantage.

Before the intense warfare between Israeli forces and Hamas that has left more than 230 Palestians and a dozen Israelis dead, Mr Netanyahu’s continuance in office as Israel’s premier appeared precarious. The 11 day battle with Hamas has however changed Benjamin Netanyahu’s status to being more stable. Currently, there is an uneasy calm with a cease-fire since early Friday.

How has the latest conflict and violence helped Netanyahu alter his status from precarious to stable? For one, the current unrest and combat bought him time in office. Next, Naftali Bennett, head of the ultranationalist Yamina party, said he was abandoning efforts to form a coalition with the centre and left-wing parties to form a new government. In early May, talks of a national unity coalition that would have ousted Mr Netanyahu were advancing. The outcome of these talks and moves thereafter might have led to an Israeli Arab party entering government for the first time. However, the recent conflict saw all this being buried in the rubble of the collapsed buildings due to heavy rocket firing and bombings .Today, the post-election stalemate in Israel and the West Bank remains largely the same as it was before : Uncertain. Netanyahu was given a chance to form a government, and he failed. Now the main anti-Netanyahu bloc led by Yair Lapid's centrist party, the '' Yesh Atid'' – which means, 'There is a Future' - also has no obvious route of putting together a majority in the 120-member Knesset. Three days after Hamas began firing rockets from Gaza, Naftali Bennett, the right-wing former defence minister who was the cementing force behind the alternative coalition government not withstanding that he is always an unlikely bedfellow with the more moderate Yair Lapid, declared, “A government of change with the planned makeup will not be able to cope”. In the sudden crisis that has set jews against the Arabs within Israel, he was abandoning the coalition talks that may have worked out in bringing together a wider unity in the nation's interest . The current crisis disables him from joining a government backed by an Islamist Arab party given the widespread worst sectarian violence that broke out in the recent warfare. It leaves open the very real possibility of another election - an unprecedented fifth in just over two years. It is more than obvious that the collapse of the Lapid-Bennett partnership in the wake of violence on Israeli streets may give Netanyahu extra time to make a political move to stay in power.

Ben Caspit,a senior journalist and columnist for Israeli news-papers, writes in the newspaper Maariv on Friday that, "From the moment (the fire) was lit, the government of change was dead and Netanyahu came back to life". This line says it all.

Now Yair Lapid has three weeks left to try to form a governing coalition. A "rotation" deal in which Lapid and Bennett would take turns as Prime Minister had been mooted, but it would need the backing of Arab legislators for a parliamentary majority. Bennett was quoted by Israeli media on Thursday as saying the current strife with Israel's 21% Arab minority would make such a government unfeasible. Current cross-border hostilities between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have been accompanied by violence in mixed communities of Jews and Arabs in Israel. Synagogues have been attacked and street fights have broken out, prompting Israel's President to warn of civil war.

Mansour Abbas, who heads the United Arab List party, said on Channel 12 TV that Bennett phoned him to say a so-called "government of change" with Lapid was now "off the table”. In a televised address, Lapid voiced regret at Bennett's decision but said he would continue his efforts to put together a coalition.

The Israeli-Gaza conflict has facilitated Prime Minister Netanyahu to deliver a powerful message that he remains the sole guarantor of Israeli security against threats from Hamas in Gaza, from Iran or for that matter Lebanon; that he alone is a reliable safeguard against Arabs voting in droves within Israel; and despite being on trial on charges of bribery, corruption, fraud and breach of trust, he alone is the best leader to project and lead Israel’s interests, with America’s tacit support, on the world stage. A former Israeli ambassador to US, Itamar Rabinovich, has candidly said, “For an indicted politician, not to lose four successive elections is quite an achievement”.

Against this factual backdrop it is still unclear, what kind of a role, if any, Prime Minister Netanyahu had in the Israeli police raids on Al Aqsa Mosque, the closing of a plaza popular with the Palestinians near the Damascus gate and the plight of the six Palestinian families facing eviction from East Jerusalem - the sparks that led to the current violence and ultimate conflict in the midst of Ramadan.

The deaths of more than 60 children in Gaza have created international outrage, condemnations and large demonstrations . Within President Biden’s democratic party many members voiced their strong displeasure at the bloody happenings there. But Prime Minister Netanyahu has always been able to bulldoze and stymie such episodes of indignation in the past. The fear of mongering has worked this time too.To dislodge the master strategist, magician Benjamin Netanyahu may be difficult now. It appears that he has yet again survived attempts to dislodge him but he is not out of the woods. A growing number of Democrats in Washington are speaking out against Israel’s harsh treatment of Palestinians. This does not augur well for the Prime Minister. The magician finds himself caught in a web of his own machinations. And this time his uncritical friend former US President Mr Donald Trump is not around to bail him out.