It took more than three whole days after the controversial speech May 4 by the deputy chief of staff on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lash out at Maj. Gen. Yair Golan during the weekly Cabinet meeting May 8.

Netanyahu came to work on Sunday morning after his weekend rest with the clear aim of stirring up the Yair Golan storm, which had already receded, and placing it at the top of the public agenda. He did so using his heaviest guns, both in the severe tone he took and the words he chose: “The remarks are fundamentally incorrect. They should not have been made at any time. … They do injustice to Israeli society and cause a belittling of the Holocaust."

It’s not hard to guess what made the prime minister behave like the last of the right-wing, internet-surfing back-talkers. In conversations over the weekend with political associates, he sounded determined to thwart by whatever means necessary the upcoming report, already leaked to the media, of the state comptroller general on the 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, which is expected to seriously damage his image as “Mr. Defense.” But there was something else at play: Netanyahu, who devotes every waking minute to preserving his political power base on the right, was troubled that once again he was leaving the stage to his major challengers on the right, Yisrael Beitenu head Avigdor Liberman and HaBayit HaYehudi chair Naftali Bennett — both of whom are bent on undermining his position as the leader of the right wing. Thus, when Netanyahu realized that he had been left behind in issuing a sharp response to Golan’s speech, he followed suit — albeit with a delay of almost four days.

Netanyahu’s attack on the deputy chief of staff served a dual purpose. First, it deflected attention from talk about the comptroller’s report on Operation Protective Edge. Second, it enabled the prime minister to lead the pack of those vilifying Golan, who in a matter of days went from a being a national hero and defense hawk to being a leftist and traitor.