Fight for Israel’s future in balance after a win for Netanyahu coalition

A constitutional crisis is brewing, more protests are expected and PM looks weak despite victory

One of the most extraordinary moments of Monday, a fateful day in Israeli history, came just before the first part of the governing coalition's contentious judicial overhaul was voted into law. Benjamin Netanyahu was sitting in the plenum of the Knesset building in Jerusalem sandwiched between his justice minister, Yariv Levin, the architect of the wide-ranging legislation, and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, its most vocal critic on the government's benches.

The two fellow Likud members argued bitterly over Netanyahu's head as the longtime prime minister, never usually one to shy away from a fight, sat quietly between them. He may as well have not been there.