“We all understand that in the last few years we have been contending with a phenomenon which is constantly expanding, of smuggling into and out of the state, especially by means of drones, in such a manner that creates a real threat to the security of the state, and this also when we are talking of goods that do not directly endanger the public as do weapons and drugs, which constitute a separate criminal and more serious offence. All sorts of things and materials are moved across the borders, some of them for the purpose of manufacturing explosives, and, of course, the smuggling of cigarettes, animals, plants, food-stuffs etc. Anything that crosses the border, in the final reckoning, might serve the terrorist organizations, including financially...”
No, this paragraph does not relate to the most recent event of the smuggling of products into the Gaza Strip in general, and of cigarettes in particular, and the alleged involvement of Bezalel Zini, one of the brothers of the current head of Shin Bet, David Zini.
This is a paragraph from a speech delivered by Justice Minister Yariv Levin in the Knesset Plenum on October 5, 2025, when he brought amendment 161 to the Israeli Penal Law for first reading to the Knesset Plenum. On January 19, 2026, the Bill was referred by the Knesset House Committee to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for preparation towards its second and third readings.
Bezalel Zini, who for the last year or so headed the Uriah Force, which is engaged in tearing down, with heavy equipment, buildings and structures around the Gaza Strip, at the behest of the IDF, has been accused of taking advantage of his official position, and uniform, for “assisting the enemy in wartime, and the taking of bribes”. On February 5, the Attorney General’s Office presented an indictment against him to that effect.
The specific acts for which he is accused involve three cases of smuggling cigarettes – which sell in the Gaza Strip for exorbitant prices, and which form a handsome source of income for Hamas, which manages to gain control over part of them somewhere along the way – through the Sufa border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, for which Bezalel was allegedly paid NIS 365,000.
Investigation procedure, judicial implications
Two of Zini’s accomplices implicated him in the events, though, of course, he remains innocent until such time as a court of law rules otherwise. If he is found guilty, he is liable to receive a sentence of three to five years' imprisonment. Under the new amendment to the Penal Law, the sentence could reach seven years, though it is doubtful whether, even if the amendment is passed before the trial is over, it will apply to retrospective cases.
As soon as news of this affair was published, David Zini, who had no prior knowledge of the accusations against his brother, approached the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, and updated her on this development.
It was decided that while the rest of the defendants in a variety of cases related to the smuggling of dual-purpose (civilian and military) goods into the Gaza Strip – 11 Israeli citizens – were to be investigated by the Shin Bet, Bezalel Zini would be investigated by the police and not the Shin Bet, which his brother David heads.
It was reported on last Friday’s news on Channel 12 that David Zini had actually communicated to the police that he was expecting them to go through with their investigation full force. This does not necessarily mean that he would not be happy if his brother emerges innocent from this process.
It should be noted that for the time being Bezalel Zini has not admitted to most of the charges brought against him, while several of his family members (especially another brother, Shmuel, and his father Rabbi Joseph Zini) claim that the whole episode is no more than an attempt by the opposition to bring about David Zini’s resignation or dismissal by manipulative means.
The same is argued by quite a few coalition MKs, and by TV Channel 14, no matter what the truth of the matter, or the danger to Israel’s security from scandalous smuggling of goods into the Gaza Strip, whether or not Bezalel Zini is involved.
It cannot be denied that there was opposition to David Zini’s appointment as head of Shin Bet within center and left-wing circles, despite his impressive military record, on grounds of his extreme right-wing views and some outrageous opinions expressed by several members of his family.
David Zini’s appointment was also objected to on professional grounds, due to his total lack of experience in the fields in which the Shin Bet is engaged. There were those who believed that Netanyahu sought his appointment in order to have a yes-man at the head of the Shin Bet.
It must be admitted, that there were some in the opposition who had hoped that the Grunis Committee for Senior Civil Service Appointments, which had approved Zini’s appointment on September 25, 2025 (with the Attorney General’s consent), would implement a warning that had been attached to the approval, to the effect that he would have to leave the job if a “close relative of his would be involved in extreme activities”.
It transpires that the “close relative” referred to was not his brother Bezalel, who at the time was not suspected of anything, but one of his eleven children, a “Hilltop Youth”, whose name appears in the Shin Bet files as a potential troublemaker, over whom Zini was asked to watch.
Of one thing there is no doubt: David Zini takes a hard line against goods entering the Gaza Strip, particularly cigarettes, which Hamas views as a source of income. We do not know what the two brothers have said to each other on this issue, but it is inconceivable that David will try to get his brother, Bezalel, off the hook if indeed a court of law finds him guilty.
Whether the chairperson of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Boaz Bismuth, will concentrate on getting Amendment 161 of the Penal Law into the lawbook is yet to be seen.
Presumably, Bismuth’s attention is focused these days on getting the law for releasing the haredim from military service rather than on punishing smugglers.
The writer has written journalistic and academic articles, as well as several books, on international relations, Zionism, Israeli politics, and parliamentarism. From 1994 to 2010, she worked at the Knesset Library and the Knesset Research and Information Center.