US EditionIsraeli security service chief’s brother is accused of smuggling cigarettes into Gaza
Bezalel Zini faces aiding-the-enemy charges in a probe into cigarette smuggling that funds Hamas, with 13 suspects facing indictments in Ashkelon courts.
- On Tuesday, police filed a prosecutorial declaration against Bezalel Zini, arrested last month, and an indictment is expected on Thursday.
- High retail values inside Gaza mean cigarettes, sometimes worth 269,000 shekels, incentivize smuggling, while defense officials say the trade funds Hamas's military and salaries.
- The Desert Reconnaissance Battalion case shows 4,496 packs fetched 269,000 shekels, with each pack around 60 shekels, highlighting the trade's scale.
- Shin Bet now leads smuggling probes as national-security offenses, and senior IDF officials urge zero tolerance, calling it `a clear act of treason in every sense.`
- Zini, arrested last month, remains in custody at least until Thursday as the court lifted the gag order; family members called the allegations `fabricated` while a suspect released on Wednesday cited no basis for charges.
22 Articles
22 Articles
Associated Press News
Israeli security service chief's brother is accused of smuggling cigarettes into Gaza
An Israeli court has indicted a brother of the chief of Israel’s security service on charges of smuggling tens of thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes into war-ravaged Gaza Strip at a time when getting aid into the territory is difficult and many Palestinians go hungry.
Bezalel Zini and two other suspects are suspected of having introduced cartons of contraband cigarettes "by cheating the soldiers at the crossings to the [Gaza] Strip."
Shin Bet chief's brother indicted for aiding Hamas during wartime in Gaza smuggling case
Zini, along with others, was charged with aiding the enemy during wartime, prohibited dealings in property for terror purposes, obtaining something by aggravated fraud, and accepting bribes.
Brother of Shin Bet chief charged with aiding the enemy during wartime
The State Attorney's Office on Thursday formally submitted the indictment against Betzalel Zini, brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, to the Beersheba District Court in connection with the Gaza smuggling affair. "The defendant committed the acts detailed in the indictment for financial gain, while being aware of the possibility that the prohibited goods would reach Hamas and its operatives, and while foreseeing, as a near certainty, that this w…
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