It is a mystery to many of those who have witnessed the complete collapse of Israel’s strategy toward Hamas that its architect, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is still in office and being allowed to conduct the war against the Palestinian Islamist organization.

Something that at first glance might seem paradoxical is happening in the current protests against the new Israeli government’s plans for its so-called reform (or obliteration, to be more accurate) of the judiciary: The absence of Palestinian citizens of Israel among the protesters.

There was a sense of inevitability about the collapse of Israel’s coalition government. The cynics would argue that the very fact that this implausible coalition survived a year is nothing short of a miracle.

Come this time of year and there is a marked difference in mood between Israel’s Jews and its Palestinians there and everywhere.