Prime Minister Netanyahu's initial popularity remained stable, as he managed to overcome various events that could have endangered the stability of his government—such as the political speech at the Bar-Ilan University at the beginning of his term in which he endorsed the idea of a Palestinian state alongside Israel for the first time, the government's agreement to freeze construction in the West Bank, in light of the common belief of the Israeli public that the diplomatic relations between the United States and Israel had worsened during Netanyahu's term, the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident and its implications, the outbreak of the Mount Carmel forest fire in December 2010 and the various government oversights which were attributed to this blunder, as well as the growing debate within the Israeli public about a pre-emptive attack on Iran.