The first Saturday night of 2021 opened with thousands of activists gathering protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding that the long-serving leader resign over corruption charges against him and for allegedly mishandling the coronavirus crisis.

Holding signs reading "Go" and "Everyone is equal before the law," the demonstrators crowded Paris Square near the Prime Minister's Residence, where they have gathered for months to call for his resignation.

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Netanyahu is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three cases involving billionaire associates and media moguls. He denies wrongdoing.

But the protesters say Netanyahu cannot properly lead the country while under indictment for corruption. His trial is set to begin evidentiary hearings in the coming weeks.

Israel is set to hold its fourth national election in two years in March, what will likely be another referendum against Netanyahu as he faces a challenge from defectors within his Likud Party.

The protesters also say Netanyahu and his government have bungled the coronavirus response. The country has seen its economy hit hard by virus restrictions throughout the year and is again under a partial nationwide lockdown amid surging infection rates.

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It's not only a legal matter, but also – even mainly – a political one. The fact that he failed to win two elections and was twice unable to put together a governing coalition has cracked his self-confidence. Benjamin Netanyahu is facing an election, and it looks like for the first time, he doesn't know what approach to take. How can he overcome the polls and the previous two election results and bring the right-wing bloc the 61 seats it needs? The decision to request immunity from prosecution was another Hail Mary pass in the shaky morass of uncertainty in which he is sinking.

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This week, Blue and White played up the matter of immunity for Netanyahu, hoping it could continue to make headlines for several weeks more of the campaign, although the issue in and of itself is quite esoteric. The world didn't shake when Labor and Social Affairs Minister Haim Katz asked for immunity. Temporary immunity cannot rescue a suspect from a trial – it can only pause the process for as long as he or she remains in office. Benny Gantz's accusations against Netanyahu were to be expected, but if the latter hadn't asked for immunity and announced that as far as he was concerned, the trial could proceed immediately, Gantz would have attacked him even more strongly for running the cabinet in the evening hours and spending his mornings in court.

The opposition, which has the support of major and key sectors of the media, is finding it difficult to understand how after the investigations, the police recommendations, the state attorney's recommendations, and the decision of the attorney general to indict pending a hearing and his final decision to indict, Netanyahu is still on his feet. How he is still supported by half the people who are refusing to let him go despite everything, and how he is using his voter base to keep the other side out of power. It's making them crazy. Because more than anything, it points to them. It's one thing to fail in two elections in a row, but to fail against an opponent who is suspected of serious crimes – what does that say about them and their political paths?

Their aggressive campaign against Netanyahu, now in its third election cycle, rests on their own assumption that he cannot be defeated at the polls and therefore the only way of ousting him goes through the attorney general, the state attorney, and the High Court. What was Gantz's speech rejecting immunity for Netanyahu actually about, if not a clear message that he cannot bring down Netanyahu on his own? It said that Gantz, for the third time, will need outside help from the court. If he believed in his own strength, he would say, let Netanyahu be given immunity and that their contest would be decided where democratic decisions are made – at the ballot box.

It takes some serious pyrotechnics to turn Netanyahu's request for immunity into a major event. At this stage, everyone who is with Netanyahu will stick with him. Anyone who was going to leave has already gotten off the bus. Blue and White can't directly take advantage of the event for political gain, but taking over the discourse is an easier target. Slogans such as "turning the Knesset into a haven for criminals," or "Netanyahu only cares about Netanyahu" – as well as the term "immunity government" – are catchy and will register with the media, which throws itself behind anti-Likud campaigns.

When it comes to the attorney general and the High Court's position on the legality of appointing Netanyahu to form a government, it's hard not to notice their extreme disinclination to address the matter. It would seem that the system has never had to deal with more volatile material than the question of whether Netanyahu can or cannot run for prime minister. This was particularly clear when they treated a High Court petition against Netanyahu like an IED – something from which to run and seek cover.

It's hard for them to reject the petition. An entire camp, their own camp, is waiting to hear their verdict about the quickest way to avoid having to compete against Netanyahu again. But it's also difficult for them to accept it. There is no legal reason for them to do so. So they stammer noncommittal things about "it's too early" and "maybe a miracle will happen and Netanyahu will lose on his own," which would relieve them of the burden of having to make a decision.

A waiting game

Like all the election campaigns for the past decade, things are a mess on the Right. Two weeks ago, Rabbi Rafi Peretz and far-right activist Itamar Ben-Gvir surprised Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich and announced that Peretz's Habayit Hayehudi and Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit would be running on a joint ticket. The deal has reserved places for members of Smotrich's Tkuma party on its list, including Smotrich himself, but as of now, the transportation minister is refusing to carpool.

There are different versions of what prompted the move. Smotrich's people say that it was motivated solely to allow wider competition because it appeared that a single united party wouldn't pass the minimum electoral threshold.

Smotrich also had the idea of uniting the central committees of each party – 800 from Habayit Hayehudi, 400 from Tkuma – and hold a single vote to determine the list. But that idea was a "no" for Peretz. Some say that the partnership between Habayit Hayehudi and Otzma Yehudit is designed to torpedo an attempt to hold party primaries or any other move that would oust Peretz from the leadership of Habayit Heyehudi. The other version of events holds that it was actually Smotrich who is responsible for the joint list. When it became clear to Peretz and Ben-Gvir that Smotrich was taking aim at both their parties, they decided to join forces behind his back. They think Smotrich has no political ammunition. Naftali Bennett doesn't want him in the New Right, although Ayelet Shaked does. Netanyahu won't take him into the Likud, so the only option for Peretz and Ben-Gvir was to unite or disappear. They think Smotrich will have no choice but to take the bait and join their list.

At this point, Smotrich can't say with certainty that that is what will happen, so he is waiting to see what happens in the next two weeks, leading up to the deadline for parties to submit their lists to the Central Elections Committee.

A day before the deadline, Habayit Hayehudi's central committee is scheduled to meet to approve the joint ticket. It will pass with a large majority; a similar one was already approved before the April 9 election, but that isn't stopping the party wheelers and dealers from trying to scupper the decision. But joint tickets and mergers are the only way to keep right-wing votes from being lost to fringe parties that can't make it over the minimum electoral threshold.

At a time when the right-wing camp is fighting for its life, it's astonishing to see how the politicians are still dealing with nuances. People think Smotrich will wind up joining the right-wing list, but if he doesn't, Habayit Hayehudi and Otzma Yehudit have one last option ready – putting a woman in the No. 2 place on their joint list, someone from one of the more liberal religious Zionist communities, like Raanana or Givat Shmuel. Or maybe Eli Yishai, formerly of Shas. The last time around, Otzma Yehudit didn't make it into the Knesset. Perhaps now that they've joined forces with Habayit Hayehudi, the situation will change.

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"When necessary – for example, to oust a justice minister who is not favored by the system – cases were pulled out and detailed were leaked to certain journalists. Always the same journalists. All so that the politicians labeled will always remember that a sword is at their throats. If that's not extortion, I don't know what is," Ohana said.

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Ohana went on to accuse the "prosecution within the prosecution of setting its schedule according to the agenda of the political system, election dates, and when the government will be formed. In doing so, it is making itself a political player – a player that is not elected by the public."

Ohana also had criticism for Attorney Liat Ben Ari, who was absent from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pre-indictment hearing earlier this month because she was on vacation with her family.

"The prosecution within the prosecution is on vacation during the hearing and according to the leaks – again, leaks – made up her mind before she read and responded to the many materials [presented]. It makes no difference what arguments were presented in the hearing," he said.

Ohana said he had asked to investigate the leaks from the Netanyahu investigations but consistently encountered a refusal by law enforcement.

"In the past few months, I've suggested polygraph tests. I took those tests when I was serving with the Shin Bet [security agency], and thousands of others – including employees of the Shin Bet, the Mossad, the IDF, and even the police – take them. If it's OK for them, why not officials in the State Attorney's Office? … I suggested printing out transcripts of all the phone conversations of anyone in the [State Attorney's Office] who had access to the information that was leaked. I got a blanket refusal," Ohana said.

Addressing his remarks to Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit, Ohana said, "I'm appealing to you and asking for an impartial investigation … there have been dozens, possibly hundreds, of leaks to various media outlets over the past three years. Sir, every one of these violations carries a possible punishment of three years in prison – we're talking about hundreds of years!"

Ohana also touched on how people would react to his impassioned speech.

"How can a justice minister say such things about the entire system he's in charge of? [They will ask] And I say, how can a justice minister turn a blind eye?"

Mendelblit put out an official condemnation of Ohana's speech, speaking on his own behalf as well as Nitzan's: "We regret deeply the remarks the justice minister made this evening. We reject the attempt to besmirch the work of police and justice officials, without any basis in fact. The law enforcement system will not be dragged into politics, just like it never has in the past. No one will deter us from doing our work faithfully."

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Netanyahu's lawyers arrived at the Justice Ministry in Jerusalem for the fourth and final day of the proceedings, where they were meeting with Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit and his team to appeal that the cases against Netanyahu be dropped.

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Mendelblit has recommended that Netanyahu be indicted on counts that include fraud, breach of trust and bribery in three separate cases. The hearing is the final step before the attorney general decides whether to issue a formal indictment.

The allegations against Netanyahu include suspicions that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of champagne and cigars from billionaire friends; offered to trade favors with a newspaper publisher, and used his influence to help a wealthy telecom magnate in exchange for favorable coverage on a popular news site.

Netanyahu has called the allegations part of a witch hunt, lashing out against the media, police, prosecutors and the justice system. The attorney general is expected to render his final decision by the end of the year.

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"The attorney general's people are listening to us closely, and we're happy about that. We've presented documents that weren't part of the materials in the investigation," Ashkenazi said.

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"We argued for 11 hours in the hearing yesterday [Wednesday]. I think we'll need a similar amount of time today," Ashkenazi said.

Wednesday's hearing, like Thursday's is devoted to Case 4,000, the case in which Netanyahu faces the most serious potential charge – bribery. Case 4,000 centers around suspicions that Netanyahu, when serving as communications minister, gave the Bezeq telecom giant enormous financial benefits in exchange for favorable coverage of him and his family on the Bezeq-owned Walla news site.

After Wednesday's hearing, Netanyahu's defense team issued a statement in which they announced: "We have laid out very detailed materials that are supported by considerable evidence that contradicts what the list of possible indictment counts claims. The attorney general listened to us. We hope and believe that nothing will remain of those counts, and the cases will be closed."

A message sent out on behalf of Netanyahu said, "The prime minister's attorney, who prepared their answers for the hearing very thoroughly, made a series of arguments supported by considerable evidence, some new."

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"I think the highest judge is the voter," Feiglin told i24NEWS host Nurit Ben. "In a democracy, the one who decides … are civilians."

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"If Netanyahu will be elected," Feiglin continued, "even though everybody knows what he is facing … it means that the people of Israel want that man."

Feiglin insisted that Netanyahu should not be ousted based on an impending indictment and accused a "small minority of people" of abusing the law to take down Israel's democratically elected leader.

Pushed by i24NEWS about the integrity of the judicial system, Feiglin argued that it's not about the "law, it's about the decision to use it against somebody because of a political agenda."

Earlier this week, Feiglin announced that his party would not run in the upcoming general election in September, as part of a deal that could see him assume a ministerial position in the next government.

The former Likud party lawmaker is considered to be on the far right of Israeli politics but has mixed libertarian policy proposals into his Zehut party platform that include free-market reforms, lower tax rates, and less strident laws on cannabis use.

As part of their agreement, Netanyahu has promised to ease restrictions on cannabis for those in need of medical care if reelected.

"As you well know, I made a promise Zehut would run in this [election] round even though no one could have predicted this important opportunity. I feel a moral obligation to bring this deal for approval from all of you through an organized survey of party members," Feiglin said in an appeal to his party.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

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