As if the wave of terror attacks is not bad enough, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also has to contend with growing political isolation.
As the Knesset began its long winter session this week, centre-left opposition leaders lined up to lambast him for failing to create a diplomatic situation which would have allowed Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians.
At the same time, he is coming under increasing pressure to authorise much tougher measures against the Palestinians from his colleagues in Likud and the coalition, along with Avigdor Lieberman's right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu.
Mr Netanyahu's problem is two-fold. After six and a half years he is now held responsible by the public as the main figure in Israel responsible for the lack of security, especially as he ran on an election platform promising just that.
He had warned that under the leadership of his poll rivals - Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni - "Isis will get to Jerusalem" and "we will have to take an armoured car to get to the Western Wall".
With his coalition's ultra-thin majority, he is under constant threat of having to face the voters again in the not too distant future.
Mr Netanyahu has so far resisted calls to change his overall strategy, demanding that the Palestinians first return to negotiations before Israel makes any further concessions, while at the same time refusing demands from the right to build new settlements in response to the attacks.
It is becoming an increasingly thin and lonely line to walk.
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