At the height of the probe of the “Amedi affair,” involving alleged financial misconduct by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the payment of contractor Avner Amedi, an investigation into then-President Ezer Weizman’s financial ties to businessmen Edouard Seroussi and Rami Unger was opened, conducted and closed: six months from complaint to Weizman’s resignation in shame, as the Netanyahu probe climbed slowly up the ladder.

In 2000, Elyakim Rubinstein became the only attorney general to close cases against both a president and a premier. The precedent could have implications for Case 1000, involving gifts received by the Netanyahu family. Jacob Weinroth, Netanyahu’s lawyer today, then represented Weizman.

Our presumptions:

The State Prosecutor’s Office will soon announce charges against Sara Netanyahu in the “prime minister’s residences affairs.”

The police will announce that they have finished investigating Case 1000 and have sufficient evidence to prosecute the prime minister.

The Netanyahus will seek a package deal that would keep them out of prison — and out of office: confession, community service, high fines and a finding of moral turpitude.

Netanyahu will grasp onto the chance of being elected president in 2021, after Reuven Rivlin.

Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit will prefer a deal with the Netanyahus over embarrassing trials. If the High Court of Justice vacates the deal, the court will be the villain, not Mendelblit.

The accusations against Weizman were similar to the claims of Netanyahu receiving gifts of cigars and Champagne. But the Weizman case was less problematic, and it was pioneering, as it preceded the trials of former President Moshe Katsav and of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Addressing the recent Likud support rally, Netanyahu accused police investigators of persecuting his wife over negligible details. In 2000, he accused Amedi of forgery, of submitting “inflated bills, things that never were. That’s very serious.” Sara Netanyahu is suspected of the same conduct: involvement in forging bills for catered meals for her elderly, ailing father, for his caregiver’s salary, travel expenses and drivers — all at taxpayer expense, according to the allegations.

When Rubinstein closed the Weizman case, he drew a line in the sand: Before, ambiguity reigned; after, state employees must report gifts. Cabinet members, including prime ministers, were warned that the rules issued by the Asher Committee demanded transparency. At the very least, Netanyahu ostensibly committed an offense by not disclosing to the state comptroller the favors he received from Arnon Milchan and others. If the investigation is simply closed, it will signal to every cabinet minister and official, inspector and police officer, that the end of the world is nigh and that all is permitted.

The story Netanyahu will tell himself, at his exit speech before taking a lucrative breather after nine uninterrupted years and a dozen overall as prime minister, is that he saved his obviously innocent family the agony of a trial, and that he is fit for the presidency because a criminal record does not preclude holding that office: The legislature never foresaw such a scenario.

A cabinet minister like Arye Dery needed a cooling-off period of seven years after leaving prison, but a president need only be an Israeli citizen. Netanyahu will keep his citizenship when he monetizes his talents abroad; and Sara will keep alive her dream to finally be first lady.

The president will be elected by the next Knesset, whose composition we do not know. In a secret vote, Netanyahu’s enemies in and outside of Likud will lie in wait. But if the law is amended to add a position of vice president, for MK David Bitan, we’ll find out that Netanyahu was thrown out the door, made it through the moral turpitude and returned through the window.