Last week, Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon set off a storm when he described the group as a "virus."

VOA: standard.2009.08.23

So too, if Netanyahu fired Barak and replaced him with Ya'alon, he would energize his political supporters in a way he has failed to do since taking office.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: A win-win plan for Netanyahu

That question motivated a new study he recently published with Ya-Ru Chen, a management professor at Cornell.

FORBES: The Best Leaders Care About Their Status More Than Their Power

If Netanyahu appoints Natan Sharansky foreign minister and Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon defense minister, he will have the top-level support he needs to overcome his predecessors' legacy and change the nature of contemporary discourse on the Palestinians and on Israel's strategic significance to the West in the face of staunch opposition from Washington.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Entrapping Netanyahu