The latest, most visible example of this phenomenon was the government’s decision a year and a half ago to raise the minimum percentage of votes that a party needs to gain a seat in Parliament to 3.25 percent from 2 percent. The right thought that this was a masterstroke against its political foes; the left saw it as a death knell for democracy. Election Day proved them both wrong. In fact, the left gained and the right lost because of the change.

Mr. Netanyahu and his coalition partners have a point when they complain that the left denigrates the country and that leftists often attempt to curb the political will of the majority of Israelis by attempting to delegitimize the right’s agenda. They also have legitimate complaints against the courts and the media. But members of the governing majority must look in the mirror and ask how they themselves contribute to the problem.

They do so by not accepting the burden of the majority — that is, by not accepting that they have responsibility for the welfare of the whole country, including its minorities.

This was illustrated on Election Day, when Mr. Netanyahu issued a public warning that Israeli Arabs were “voting in droves.” This may have been an effective way of convincing his supporters to come out and vote for the Likud party, but Mr. Netanyahu has been Israel’s leader for many years and as such he has a responsibility toward its Arab as well as its Jewish citizens. He is charged with making all its people feel they have a genuine stake in the country.

In the heated atmosphere of today’s politics it is not easy for a governing coalition, especially one with a one-seat majority, to balance its desire to implement an agenda with its obligation not to estrange compatriots who are not among its supporters. But Israel’s new coalition should strive to find such a balance.

Some simple measures are easy to implement: Quit the bluster, don’t rush to make radical changes, consult your opponents, be magnanimous in victory.

Sadly, in the weeks of negotiations leading up to the announcement of the new coalition on Wednesday, the ruling parties were anything but magnanimous; instead they came across as petty and greedy. After yet another victory, Israel’s governing coalition apparently has not yet internalized its majority status and still behaves like an insecure opposition movement.

With Mr. Netanyahu back in the prime minister’s office for a fourth term, it is left-of-center voters — not those on the right — who have more reasons to be uneasy. The new government would be wise to help calm them, rather than hurting the nation as a whole by stoking their fears.