Three weeks before the April 9 elections, crunch time for the prime minister, a disaster struck Benjamin Netanyahu: The so-called “submarine affair,” considered by many the most serious corruption case in the country’s security history, resurfaced at the worst possible time. If there was one issue that Netanyahu tried hard to keep out of the public debate in his run for a fifth term, it was the suspected corruption involving Israel’s purchase of submarines from Germany. Now, it's all people are talking about. The result was a rare drop for Netanyahu in the polls, with some showing his rival Blue and White Party once again pulling ahead of the Likud by as many as five Knesset seats.

Although many of Netanyahu’s close associates and relatives are up to their necks in this scandal, Netanyahu himself had emerged relatively unscathed so far. At the start of the police probe into the case, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit ruled that Netanyahu was not a suspect. The police did not question Netanyahu under caution and eventually cleared him. Yet in Israel, nothing is final. Surprising developments have brought the scandal to the fore once again and the prosecution is reportedly considering re-opening the submarine case, or at least part of it.

An investigation would focus on Netanyahu’s holdings in steel conglomerates controlled by his wealthy cousin, American-Israeli executive Nathan Milikowsky. It seems that one of his other companies supplied steel to ThyssenKrupp, the German shipbuilder at the center of the submarine affair. It's the last thing Netanyahu needs at this point in his stormy re-election campaign as he faces three former military chiefs well versed in Israel’s defense needs. With the latest revelations, Netanyahu lost control of the campaign agenda, swept up by a wave of unsettling reports.

In response, Netanyahu deployed two strategic weapons. The first was an affair involving the cell phone of his chief rival, Blue and White leader Lt. Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz, supposedly hacked by Iran about six months ago. Netanyahu went live to demand that Gantz reveal what was on his phone and what sensitive information Iran has on him. But the diversion may have backfired. It reminded Israelis of Netanyahu’s panicked dash to a television studio in 1993 to admit he had been unfaithful to his wife and complain he was being blackmailed over the affair. At the time, Netanyahu feared that a compromising videotape about his liaison would be published.