JERUSALEM — Israelis were confronted with a rude new reality on Friday: a prime minister running for re-election while facing indictment for corruption.

While there were hints that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be losing support, his right-wing allies appeared to be sticking with him and no one was foolish enough to write off a politician who still retains a strong base and has shown Houdini-like skill in escaping seemingly impossible jams before.

The only certainty was that Israel was in for a wild ride between now and the April 9 ballot, with analysts predicting that the country’s political scene — loud, fractious and heated at the best of times — would become only more divisive as Mr. Netanyahu, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term, fights for his political life.

“He splits the nation,” said Yehuda Ben Meir, an expert in public opinion at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “His are the politics of polarization and exaggeration. If he got any more polarizing he’d fall off the planet.”