The Israel police has announced its recommendation for Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara for receiving bribes in the so-called Case 4000, concerning Netanyahu’s ties with telecommunication mogul Shaul Elovitch.

In the coming weeks, Netanyahu will have to make the most important decision in his life. Since he has never really fought for peace but limited himself to maintaining the status quo, his upcoming decision will be a dramatic one; it will determine the way in which the Netanyahu era will come to an end, if indeed it does end. Will he drag Israel into a state of internal chaos? Or will he relax his grip on power and instead try to extricate himself from the imbroglio with minimum damage to all the parties involved? Will Netanyahu try to continue to serve as prime minister during the trial, or will he direct his efforts at a plea bargain?

Anyone who knows Netanyahu knows that he is not capable of giving up or admitting defeat. His nature is to fight to the last bullet, to burn down the house and incite his own people against each other. On the other hand, there is a chance that Netanyahu will at some point understand his situation and realize that he might end his career like former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: in a prison cell. Perhaps it’s not too late for him to make a deal with the attorney general that will put an end to his political life but extricate him and his wife from imprisonment.

On Dec. 2, Roni Alsheikh’s last day as police commissioner, the police submitted its summation on Case 4000, recommending that Netanyahu and his wife be indicted for bribery and shaking up Israel’s political and legal system. This is the third recommendation against Netanyahu (similar recommendations were made public on Cases 1000 and 2000 as well), but the current dossier is the strongest of them all. The Case 4000 recommendation is backed by solid evidence including tapes, text messages and includes suspicion of attempting to disrupt legal proceedings. It is also the first recommendation that connects the prime minister’s wife to a bribery offense, which is much more serious than her misdemeanor indictment of several months ago. The Hanukkah festival has only started and the Netanyahus find themselves trapped in their harshest circumstances yet.