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2026-02-06 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
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Brother of Shin Bet chief charged with ‘assisting enemy in wartime’ over Gaza smuggling
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Every country has its vipers. [IsraelTimes] Prosecutors accuse Bezalel Zini of abusing his army role to smuggle crates of cigarettes into Strip, earning hundreds of thousands of shekels and potentially benefitting Hamas
State prosecutors on Thursday indicted Bezalel Zini, the brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, and two other defendants on charges of trafficking cigarettes into the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
Strip as part of a far-reaching smuggling ring.
All three were indicted on charges of assisting the enemy during wartime, fraud and bribery, in addition to offenses under Israel’s counterterrorism laws. On Wednesday, prosecutors filed charges against 12 other suspects in the case, including several IDF reservists.
The Shin Bet said Wednesday that throughout the war, "and even more so since the beginning of the ceasefire," Hamas
 ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
has been working to rebuild its capabilities and strengthen its governance in the Strip using money from smuggled goods.
Throughout August and September 2025, prosecutors allege the defendants smuggled 26 crates of cigarettes into Gaza for a total of NIS 3.9 million ($1.25 million), saying it was just one of many illegal deliveries carried out by the smuggling ring.
Zini, an IDF reservist who headed logistics for forces doing demolition work in Gaza, is suspected of abusing his access to the enclave to smuggle 14 crates of cigarettes from Israel into Gaza on three occasions, earning a total of NIS 365,000 ($117,405).
He was indicted in the Beersheba District Court alongside Aviel Ben David, another reservist in the same unit, and Ben David’s acquaintance Amir Dov Halperin, both of whom allegedly smuggled cigarettes into the Strip on five occasions.
According to the court, Zini was chief of logistics for a unit within the IDF’s Gaza Division, known as the Uriah Force, that operated heavy engineering equipment in the Strip. Due to his role, Zini was authorized to bring convoys of equipment into the Strip.
Both Zini and Ben David accepted NIS 15,000 ($4,800) each to take part in the smuggling, the court said. Menachem Abutbul, who was indicted Wednesday, allegedly transferred the goods in question into Zini’s vehicle near Kibbutz Sufa, and Zini and Ben David drove into Gaza and unloaded the goods there, prosecutors said.
An additional 13 suspects are expected to be indicted in the coming days.
In its first public comments on the case, the IDF said Thursday that it "views very gravely the phenomenon of smuggling into the Gaza Strip, which constitutes a major risk to state security." The military added that "if IDF personnel in the standing army or in reserve service are involved in these activities, the matter is even more severe."
The IDF said it was unaware of an incident described in the indictment against Zini, according to which he claimed to have an acquaintance in the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 8200 who could "help ensure that their details would not appear in the system."
"Following publications regarding the suspicion of involvement of a member of Unit 8200 in the indictment filed with the district court, we note that the IDF is not familiar with the incident in question," the military said.
The items allegedly smuggled into Gaza by the ring included cigarettes, iPhones, batteries, telecommunications cables and car parts, worth millions of shekels in total. Some of the goods in question are classified as "dual-use" items, meaning they could potentially be used by Hamas for terror activities.
David Zini, the Shin Bet chief, is not suspected of any wrongdoing in the case. The case is being investigated by the Israel Police, instead of the Shin Bet, due to the agency chief’s family ties to the suspect.
Israel banned the entry of cigarettes and other tobacco products into Gaza during the war, with officials saying that such products, when smuggled illegally, are sold for high prices on the black market and heavily taxed by Hamas.
The defendants acted "to smuggle prohibited goods into the Strip in a systematic and sophisticated manner, exploiting vulnerabilities at crossing points and military activity in the area, while presenting false representations of entry into the Strip as part of legitimate security activity," prosecutors said Wednesday in indictments against other alleged smugglers.
"Smuggling constitutes a significant threat to the security of the State of Israel, as it assists Hamas’s survival and governance," the Shin Bet said. "It also poses a threat stemming from the possibility of using smuggling routes as a platform to advance offensive military activity in Israel and against our forces in the Gaza Strip."
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Posted by trailing wife 2026-02-06 2026-02-06 02:27||
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