[T]he latest kindling was provided by the government's decision to resume evictions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood to make room for Jewish settlers who have been embroiled in a long legal battle trying to acquire property there. (East Jerusalem has been under Israeli control ever since Israel captured it in the 1967 Six-Day War. But Palestinians have never given up their claim to the area and, under international law, Israel is supposed to refrain from settlement activity till the two sides negotiate an agreement. East Jerusalem is also regarded by many as the capital of any future Palestinian state.)

But as Bibi himself called for calm after this week's clashes, Ben-Gvir tweeted, "It's time to rip heads off in Gaza." (Yet, ironically, it is Yoav Gallant's fate that hangs in the balance in Netanyahu's cabinet, not Ben-Gvir's.)

When Ben-Gvir was appointed as head of national security, not only Netanyahu's political opponents protested --but also his supporters.

Assaf Sagiv, one of Israel's leading conservative thinkers and a veteran of the conservative Shalem Center recently expressed dismay that Bibi had reached into the "lunatic fringe" to make his appointment. Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon, Netanyahu's defense minister during a previous term, too denounced the appointment, calling Ben-Grit a "pyromaniac" who'll set the region aflame. Indeed, until now Netanyahu himself wouldn't have his picture taken with Ben-Gvir or share a stage with him.