TEL AVIV, Israel — Benjamin Netanyahu said he intends to continue serving as Israel’s prime minister “for many years to come,” after the attorney general announced on Thursday his intention to indict the right-wing leader on corruption charges.

The attorney general’s decision could be a game-changer for the April general elections. Netanyahu has thus far continued to enjoy strong support despite the scandals hanging over him.

“It doesn’t depend on the (media) studios or the analysts, but only on you,” Netanyahu said, appealing to voters in a televised prime-time statement.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said he is seeking to press charges against Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, pending a hearing.

The long-serving prime minister slammed the timing of the announcement, just over a month before the general elections, as an attempt to influence their outcome.

Netanyahu said the media was “celebrating” the attorney general’s statement and accused the left of a “witch hunt” against him and his family.

“My family has been through hell for the past three years,” he said.

He accused the left of pressuring Mandelblit to make the decision and said he will disprove all the allegations against him.

Netanyahu’s main rival in the upcoming elections, Benny Gantz, called on the prime minister to resign.

“The Netanyahu I know wouldn’t drag the country to a situation where there is a half-time prime minister,” the former army chief of staff said.

“The state of Israel deserves better,” Gantz said, arguing that Netanyahu would not be able to carry out his duties while simultaneously waging a legal battle.

The different possible charges against Netanyahu relate to three separate corruption cases.

In one case, Netanyahu is accused of having received gifts from billionaires Arnon Milchan and James Packer amounting to more than 1 million shekels (about $280,000) in exchange for his assistance in business and personal areas. The case against Milchan was closed.

In another case, he is accused of striking a deal with the publisher of a critical newspaper to improve its coverage of him in exchange for weakening a pro-Netanyahu paper.

In the final case, Netanyahu allegedly ordered favorable rulings for the country’s largest telecommunications firm in exchange for positive coverage on news site Walla owned by controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch.

In the first two cases the attorney general intends to press charges of fraud and breach of trust and in the final case bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

In connection with the final case, Mandelblit is considering charging Elovitch and his wife Iris with bribery and obstruction of justice, subject to a hearing.

However, the attorney general said he will not press charges against Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, or son Yair, due to insufficient evidence. The pair had been accused of involvement in trying to influence the coverage on the Walla news site.

The attorney general’s decision is not final and can be altered after a hearing.

Opposition leader Shelly Yachimovich of the Labour Party said that Netanyahu is no longer fit to be prime minister or to run in the elections.

“If you are a patriot, go and clear your name without dragging a whole state with you as a hostage,” she said, adding that it would be impossible for him to make vital national decisions without them being affected by his personal battle.

Israeli law obligates a written or in-person hearing before a decision to indict for an infringement of criminal law, according to the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI).

The hearing must take place within 30 days of an announcement to issue an indictment, unless an extension is granted. Complex cases, however, often take several months between the recommendation to indict and the hearing, the IDI notes.

A bribery charge is the most serious of the possible charges against Netanyahu.

Guy Lurie, a lawyer from IDI, told dpa that a bribery conviction can carry up to a 10-year jail sentence. A conviction of fraud and breach of trust carries a maximum of three years imprisonment.

If Netanyahu is indicted while still in office, it would be the first time in Israel’s history that an indictment has been filed against a sitting prime minister.

A survey conducted in February by the Guttman Centre at the Israel Democracy Institute found that 52 percent of Israeli voters believed that Netanyahu should resign if the attorney general recommended that he be indicted. Some 35.5 percent believe he can continue serving as prime minister, the poll found.

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert stepped down in 2008, before the attorney general announced his decision to indict him for bribery and obstruction of justice. Netanyahu, who was leader of the opposition at the time, called for Olmert’s resignation during the investigation.

Olmert was sentenced to 19 months in prison, which he began in February 2016, and was released three months early.

Olmert called on Netanyahu to resign following Mandelblit’s announcement. “When it happened to me, I left my post,” he said.

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