Benjamin Netanyahu issued a desperate call on his supporters to turn out in Israel's elections by raising the entirely unproven spectre of Arab voters being bussed to polling stations with funds supplied by foreign governments.
The day before, he reached out to the right with a promise - that there will not be a Palestinian state on his watch as Prime Minister.
These were signs of desperation, but it proved to be a tactical masterstroke.
He has won 30 seats in the Knesset, almost guaranteeing that he will be able to knit a stable coalition of the right - returning him to office for a record fourth term.
For Israel and the Palestinians though, these extreme tactics may prove to be strategic errors.
Within the borders of the Zionist state, Israel's Arabs - who represent a fifth of the population - already complain of being second-class citizens. Now, they have been officially designated as political enemies by their own Prime Minister.
The joint Arab list of candidates has emerged, with 14 seats, as the third political force in Israel.
It's a fragile alliance of disparate interests that may not survive - but the casual racism of the Israeli Prime Minister's statements may continue to galvanise a fierce opposition from them.
On the West Bank, though, Netanyahu's boast that there will be no two-state solution has already begun to boom across the landscape.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation has already decided to end co-operation with Israel on security matters. The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, may soon decide to implement this ruling.
If he does, then collaboration between Israel's occupation forces and the PA's police and secret agents - who combat and arrest militants planning attacks on Israelis - will end.
This would be a popular move among Palestinians who know that there is no prospect of an end to the occupation and independence, will see their own government as little better than France's wartime Vichy government.
Palestinian officials have also said that they are now planning to intensify their diplomat initiatives to secure recognition of a Palestinian State from international bodies, and to join the International Criminal Court.
Washington and many EU countries have warned against such unilateral moves.
But if there is no process for peace and no prospect of a Palestine, they are likely to change their position.
It is not inconceivable that the many millions spent on the West Bank by foreign donors will begin to be seen as underwriting the occupation rather than contributing towards the growth of a viable Palestinian state.
If that happens, it may be drastically reduced - forcing a cash-strapped Israel back into paying for the everyday costs of occupation.
A Third Intifada now looms on the horizon of the West Bank.
Israel risks being seen as a pariah "apartheid" state - terms that political leaders and diplomats have been freely using in private to describe Israel for some time.
The nascent right-wing coalition is now welded to a position on the Palestinians that can only result in international isolation, and this could lurch into outright hostility - even among traditional supporters.
That is going to be bad for both Israelis and Palestinians - most of whom, ironically, still support a long-term peace deal between them based on independent states for both.
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