Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu granted on Feb. 18 an interview to the Israeli Arabic-language Panet website, for the first time in the current election campaign. Apparently, Netanyahu is even going after the potential Arab vote, assessing that this constituency could provide him with the crucial Knesset seat he needs to make his dream of a 61-seat majority come true and leave him in power.

On that same day, the Justice Ministry announced the date set for Netanyahu’s corruption trial — March 17, two weeks and a day after the March 2 elections. Publication of the date and of the identities of the three judges who will preside over the tribunal brought home the fact that the prime minister accused of bribery was really going on trial, and this was no longer just a vague future calendar event. Blue and White leader Benny Gantz was quick to issue a statement, describing the “Netanyahu trial” as a sad day for the State of Israel. Netanyahu was quick to respond, challenging Gantz to a televised debate. Gantz tweeted back that Netanyahu’s challenge was nothing but a spin designed to sideline his looming trial, an insight which was obviously true. From now until election day, Netanyahu will use every trick in the book to set an alternative agenda to his trial.

For Blue and White, the trial date announcement was a welcome campaign gift that immediately restored Netanyahu’s bribery indictment to the top of the agenda. This had been Blue and White’s key message until recently, but it was silenced after Netanyahu withdrew his request for Knesset immunity against prosecution in late January and took control of the agenda with the “deal of the century” — a historic White House extravaganza alongside US President Donald Trump and the ensuing argument over whether the United States had given Israel the go-ahead to annex the West Bank or parts of it. On his way home from Washington, Netanyahu stopped off in Moscow, posed for a photo with Russian President Vladimir Putin and brought back on his plane Naama Issachar, a young Israeli woman jailed on drug charges whom Putin freed under pressure from Netanyahu. A few days later, Netanyahu was off again, this time to Uganda for a historic meeting Feb. 4 with the chief of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, ahead of the possible normalization of ties with this formerly hostile Muslim state.

Blue and White found it difficult to launch an effective campaign in the face of Netanyahu’s relentless diplomatic onslaught. Polls indicated that Netanyahu’s frenetic diplomacy was offsetting his dramatic criminal drama, but did not affect the persistent deadlock between his right-wing, ultra-Orthodox bloc and the opposition.