Benjamin Netanyahu knew while he was dining with world leaders at the Elysée Palace on the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I that an Israeli commando team was in position for a top-secret mission in the Gaza Strip. What he couldn’t have known was that all hell would soon break loose. Within hours, the undercover unit was unmasked, and its commander was killed. Cutting short his trip, Netanyahu rushed home from Paris to face the worst spasm of fighting in Gaza since the 2014 war and a clutch of cabinet ministers with knives aimed at his back.

In the days that followed, he managed to defuse the violence—despite popular pressure to hit harder—then outmaneuver two rivals who tried to exploit the situation to topple his government. When all was said and done, his coalition was on life support but still alive.