Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a set strategy when dealing with anyone who dares challenge his leadership: He labels them “leftists.” He did it for the first time in 1996 when he defeated then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres with the unforgettable slogan “Peres will divide Jerusalem.” Since then, all of his rivals are “leftists” — a label that conveys to his right-wing electoral base the sense of danger the "leftists" pose and makes his base run to the nearest polling station to vote for him.

That is why it does not matter who is running against him in the April 9 elections. The very fact that someone is makes that person a radical leftist, as was the case in 2015 with Labor leader Isaac Herzog. These days, Netanyahu’s sophisticated apparatus is busy churning out spins attacking former Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz and his political partner Yair Lapid, who together head up the Blue and White party.

Many of Netanyahu adherents do not fact check anything he or his people say about their rivals. These voters would rather see Netanyahu at the helm despite allegations of bribery, fraud and breaches of trust leveled against him. Many of them have bought into his mantra that the media, law enforcement agencies and prosecution are persecuting him and conspiring to unseat him.

After Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit outlined the state’s suspicions against Netanyahu on Feb. 28, the prime minister responded with a harsh attack on the prosecutors handling his cases with accusations of bias. With that behind them, his Likud party has now entered a new campaign phase. From now on, only one message counts: Gantz is a leftist. Netanyahu has mobilized Likud ministers for the cause, meeting with them in recent days and hammering home the message “It’s either Bibi or Tibi” — a reference to his own nickname Bibi and to the popular head of the Arab Ta’al party, Knesset member Ahmad Tibi. The idea is to convince voters — especially moderates on the right displeased with Netanyahu’s corruption allegations — that Gantz’s only option is to form a government with the support of Israel’s Arab parties. On March 3, right after exiting Netanyahu’s office, the ministers stood in front of reporters faithfully reciting “Bibi or Tibi.”