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But after two inconclusive elections and months of political paralysis in Israel, the committee is not functioning — and may not resume work for months, until another election is held and a government is formed.

Revolt in the prime minister’s party

Rebel members of Mr. Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party could demand a primary election to choose a new leader. If Mr. Netanyahu, who has denied all wrongdoing, survives as party leader, he could still run in a national ballot for another term.

If he were to lose a primary election, he would no longer be Likud’s candidate for another term as prime minister.

A third election

Since neither Mr. Netanyahu nor his main challenger, Benny Gantz, was able to form a government after the last election, the task has been given to Parliament, which has three weeks to try to choose a prime minister who has the backing of a majority of its members. If Parliament fails, Israel will hold another election.

If Mr. Netanyahu wins that election, despite the charges, President Reuven Rivlin would have to decide if it were appropriate to task him with forming a government.

In many respects, the law is not clear.

Mordechai Kremnitzer, a former dean of law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, a nonpartisan research center, said a large segment of the public believes that a prime minister continuing to serve while charged with serious crimes is “an intolerable combination.”

“Everyone feels there is something askew here,” Mr. Kremnitzer said, adding that a prime minister cannot “go to court from 9 a.m. till 4 p.m. and from 4 p.m. run the country.”