It was not one of Mr Ehud Barak's happier days at the office. Mr David Levy, the Foreign Minister, with the most acutely sensitive political antennae in Israeli politics, tendered his resignation. A short while later, he voted with the opposition to help ensure the passage, on the preliminary reading, of a Bill to dissolve parliament.
As Mr Levy denounced Mr Barak for offering to "divide Jerusalem" with the Palestinians at the recent Camp David peace summit, the Prime Minister's ecstatic political opponents held a victory party, proclaiming the end of his premiership was nigh.
Then word came in that the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, had reiterated his determination to declare independent statehood on September 13th, despite gentle suggestions from his Russian allies that he think again, and unmistakeable public warnings against the move by President Clinton. And to top it all off, some of Mr Barak's own Labour Party colleagues proceeded to give radio and television interviews echoing the opposition line and openly questioning Mr Barak's powers of analysis.
However, Mr Barak refused to be deflated, launching his own series of interviews and insisting elections were still "a long way off", that the preliminary legislation on dissolving parliament would be reversed when the Knesset convenes in October after its summer recess, and that the loss of Mr Levy, while unfortunate and disappointing, would not deflect him from pursuing a permanent peace treaty with Mr Arafat.
All this served to highlight that this long, hot summer still has a good way to run and that the stakes could hardly be higher. If, despite all signs to the contrary, Mr Arafat agrees to meet Mr Barak again and get down to serious discussions on a formula to satisfy the competing Israeli and Palestinian claims to Jerusalem, the path would be open to a permanent peace accord.
With such a deal in hand, Mr Barak would initiate elections, and the Israeli public would be asked to choose between this Prime Minister and his peace treaty or a return to a Likud-led government and no accommodation with the Palestinians.
If, however, Mr Barak fails to strike a deal, Israeli-Palestinian relations will inevitably deteriorate, and he will be hard-pressed to hold on to power.
And, assuming that he has secured himself a safe Likud leadership berth by then, David Levy's political antennae will have served him well again.