One of the low points for Binyamin Netanyahu in Israel's election campaign early this year came in response to a report criticising his government's handling of the housing crisis. The prime minister declared: "There's talk of house prices and cost of living. I don't forget life itself, living-but the greatest challenge we are facing in our lives as Israeli citizens and this state is the threat of Iran's arming with nuclear weapons." He went on to confound the polls and win a fourth term as prime minister; but "life itself" has become an ironic catch-phrase for many of his opponents. To them it symbolises how Mr Netanyahu's administration has focused on the Iranian threat at the expense of dealing with pressing issues closer to home. Now that the world's powers have agreed on a nuclear deal with Iran, these problems are coming home to roost. Ten weeks after it was sworn in, the new government looks shaky.
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