At a rare meeting with journalists on Oct. 9, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked whether he would try to use his parliamentary immunity to protect himself if Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit indicts him early next year. Netanyahu claimed that he knew nothing about that, adding that the question is irrelevant because "I don’t believe I will be indicted."

People close to Netanyahu will swear that he is completely convinced that despite the investigations, the testimonies and the leaks, despite all the recordings and the (three) state witnesses, in the end, “There will be nothing because there is nothing.” Yet if that really is the situation, Netanyahu would not be getting closer to deciding to advance the election to March 2019.

Although he denied it on Tuesday, no one in Israeli politics doubts that Netanyahu’s main motive in advancing the election is the impending indictments. This comes in addition to all the polls that show his popularity soaring and that he would defeat his opponents easily. This is the real fuel that he needs to speed up the election, and the engine is already running. Netanyahu will make his final decision next week when the Knesset returns for its winter session Oct. 15, or he may make it a week later. Regardless, the time for decisions has come.

Ignoring for a moment the security situation, the drama that Israel can expect next year will have no precedent. The police have completed their work on cases 1000 (suspicions of receiving bribes from businesspeople) and 2000 (plotting for positive coverage with publisher of Yedioth Ahronoth Arnon Mozes) and submitted their recommendations. The State Attorney’s Office is expected to complete its part soon. Very little is left to investigate in Case 4000, which focuses on allegations of bribery between Netanyahu and billionaire Shaul Elovitch, and the police will make their recommendations in that case in the next few weeks. People close to Mandelblit believe that he will announce his intention to submit an indictment against Netanyahu, subject to a hearing, as early as February 2019. Now add an election to this mix. It will inevitably turn into a campaign over Netanyahu’s innocence, pitting the prime minister’s soaring popularity and the excellent state of the country against the stench of corruption rising from the various investigations. It should be interesting.