Again and again, the Netanyahus’ defenders have sought to brand her accusers as malicious liars and political foes of her husband’s who are out to hurt him through her.

But on Sunday the Israeli public witnessed Mrs. Netanyahu’s stormy temper with its own ears: A recorded telephone conversation surfaced in which she berated a publicist over the way she had been described in a gossip column item about her fund-raising for a school her sons had attended.