This week's letter of resignation from the former foreign minister, Mr David Levy, had barely been filed in the Prime Minister's office when Mr Yitzhak Mordechai, the Minister of Defence who is now the only influential moderate still in the cabinet, issued his own threat to quit.
Concerned by signs that, in the wake of Mr Levy's departure, the Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, is hardening the government's position against compromise with the Palestinians, Mr Mordechai said in a television interview he would also resign if the next phase of the peace process - the second of three Israeli troop withdrawals from West Bank territory - is not carried out within three months.
Mr Mordechai, who yesterday held exceptionally good-natured talks with the visiting American envoy, Mr Dennis Ross, acknowledged that, with Mr Levy now in opposition, advancing the peace process has become "a little more difficult in our government".
Indications are multiplying of a shift to the right by Mr Netanyahu, as he tries to retain the support of about 17 coalition members vowing to bring him down if he approves a further land handover. Yesterday, a government decision to build more than 500 new homes at the West Bank settlement of Efrat was publicised. Also yesterday, Mr Netanyahu began hinting at a further delay in the approval process for the second redeployment, suggesting that while a decision on the scope of the withdrawal might be taken before January 20th, when he is due to meet President Clinton, the final details of implementation might only be agreed several months from now - after a period during which Israel would seek to test Palestinian compliance with all aspects of the peace accords.
Mr Netanyahu, in a clear example of non-compliance, appears determined to cancel the third scheduled troop withdrawal altogether - despite having committed himself to carrying it out a year ago, under the provisions of the deal that saw Israeli troops leave most of the West Bank city of Hebron.
The Palestinian leadership is plainly horrified by the hardened tone emanating from Mr Netanyahu's office. At his talks with Mr Ross yesterday, the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, is understood to have reiterated his call for the immediate implementation of the second troop withdrawal, and for the Americans to fulfil their role as guarantors of the peace accords by turning the screws on Israel.
As for the reports of new housing at West Bank settlements, Mr Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian peace negotiator, spoke of Israeli "defiance", deliberately timed to coincide with the Ross visit. Mr Netanyahu, he charged "is determined to stop the peace process by any means".
The Prime Minister, for his part, insisted yesterday he was committed to moving forward. However, he has always spoken of the need to force the Palestinians to lower their ambitions - to make clear to them that, unlike the previous Labour government, he is not prepared to give them control of all, or even almost all, of the West Bank. In this goal, he sees eye-to-eye with the Infrastructure Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, with whom he has been meeting frequently this week.
Mr Levy and Mr Mordechai favour a more generous settlement with the Palestinians. Frustrated by his inability to shift Mr Netanyahu towards his moderate positions, Mr Levy has left the government. The question now is whether Mr Mordechai, a Kurdistan-born former general who is by nature a far more cautious man, is about to follow suit.