Investigation transcripts obtained by ynet shed new light on the questioning of Bezalel Zini, brother of the head of the Shin Bet security service David Zini, in an alleged scheme involving the smuggling of cigarettes into Gaza during wartime.
The transcripts document Zini’s shifting responses, his acknowledgment that he was aware of the alleged smuggling and that he received money from a subordinate, and his continued denial that he played an active role in the alleged operation. They also include detailed statements from Aviel Ben David, a soldier who served under Zini’s command and who described Zini as a full partner in the alleged scheme.
According to the transcripts, Zini initially denied any connection to the affair. During questioning he wept and later took part in confrontations with other defendants. Over time, he acknowledged that Ben David had approached him about allegedly smuggling cigarettes into Gaza and that he later learned the alleged smuggling had taken place. However, he rejected claims that he actively participated.
In one interrogation, Zini confirmed he had received money from Ben David but said he did not know the exact amount. “I don’t know how much,” he told investigators.
An investigator confronted him over his alleged failure to act after learning that Ben David was allegedly smuggling goods into Gaza.
“You did nothing in your role. You did not report to authorities, you did not stop his reserve service, and someone who potentially endangered state security continued to serve,” the investigator said, according to the transcript.
Zini responded: “It’s possible, it’s possible I did some things as well and I will say them at the appropriate time.”
The investigator added: “Turning a blind eye in your position is like enabling the smuggling.”
“I understand,” Zini replied.
Ben David, in his own interrogations, gave detailed accounts of alleged payments and meetings. He said he met Zini in Malachim Forest and handed him 200,000 shekels in cash in supermarket bags. The money, he said, was divided into two bundles of 100,000 shekels, all in 200-shekel bills. They met near Route 6 while Zini was traveling home from his division base.
Ben David said the payment allegedly represented Zini’s share of proceeds from two alleged smuggling operations. He said he received 150,000 shekels for the first alleged shipment and 185,000 shekels for the second, totaling 335,000 shekels, from another defendant, Amir Halperin. From that sum, he said, he paid Zini 200,000 shekels.
“Zini was my partner in everything,” Ben David said in one session. “We split the profits. He would say all the time, ‘How are we making money for the unit?’”
Ben David said he told Zini that two other individuals were pressuring him to allegedly bring cigarettes into Gaza for substantial sums. “He agreed, and we split the profits together,” Ben David said. He added that he did not know what Zini did with the money but recalled seeing new military gear in Zini’s black Dodge vehicle, including vests, helmets, ceramic plates, boots and tools.
Asked what Zini’s alleged role was, Ben David said he was responsible for allegedly facilitating vehicle entry into Gaza by using a convoy number assigned to him. According to Ben David, Zini would allegedly escort vehicles to a drop-off point, referred to in the transcript as “Baraks,” where the cigarettes were allegedly unloaded, or return to their staging area or division base.
In another interrogation, Ben David said he presented the proposal as involving only cigarettes. “I told Zini, and he said, ‘If it’s only cigarettes, let’s do it,’” Ben David said. He also said he saw military equipment in Zini’s vehicle but did not know whether it had been purchased with money allegedly derived from the smuggling.
Zini, in a separate interrogation, described leaving his home on Simchat Torah to defend soldiers and the state after the Oct. 7 attack. He said that throughout the period in question, the war effort was his focus and that the war, in his view, had not ended.
“Throughout the investigation I understand there are those trying to use my name and my family name to hitch a ride,” he said. “I deny any attempt to link me to smuggling offenses in general and to these specific cases in particular.”
When asked why he did nothing after learning of the alleged smuggling, Zini initially said he did not know about the offense. Investigators pressed him, noting that Ben David had allegedly approached him on two occasions with proposals to smuggle cigarettes.
Asked whether a reasonable person would understand that someone proposing to carry out an illegal act was likely already committing such acts, Zini said that in this situation he did not think an offense would be carried out.
He acknowledged that after Ben David later told him he had allegedly smuggled cigarettes, he understood that smuggling had taken place. Asked why he did not act at that point, Zini said he warned Ben David to stay away from it.
In another session, Zini described how he first learned about the alleged scheme.
“He said there is an opportunity to bring cigarettes into Gaza, that the prices are good and that he would go in,” Zini said.
Investigators asked whether Ben David told him he had already allegedly smuggled cigarettes or was only proposing to do so.
“That there was an opportunity. I don’t remember exactly what he told me,” Zini said.
Asked what he replied, Zini said: “I don’t remember exactly what I said. I remember saying we would check it.”
He said the conversation ended there. A few days later, he said, there was another discussion in which Ben David again allegedly tried to persuade him to enter “this field,” and he attempted to stall.
The transcripts also document a face-to-face confrontation between the two men. At the outset, Ben David described Zini as both “a commander and a friend.”
Asked about the first alleged smuggling, Ben David said it involved a carton of cigarettes transferred from the Sufa crossing area to “Baraks.” He said he paid Zini 15,000 shekels for the first alleged operation, with the payment made after the second.
In the confrontation, Ben David said the two allegedly smuggled cigarettes together three times in total. He said he paid Zini 350,000 shekels overall: 50,000 shekels for the first, 200,000 shekels for the second and 100,000 shekels for the third.
Zini responded that he did not recognize the events described and did not recall the sums or the number of times referenced.
“What is my connection to these smuggling operations?” he asked at one point.
Investigators pressed him, saying the case involved three alleged incidents in which he received money. Zini said he did not remember the number or the amounts and questioned whether the figures cited were accurate.
At one stage, an investigator suggested that the case appeared to involve more than just cigarettes. Zini replied, “I have no idea.”
When asked directly whether it was only cigarettes, he said, “I don’t know.”
Ben David then addressed him directly during the confrontation: “You saw the cigarettes once, Zini, when I put a carton into your Dodge. There’s no point in lying, they already know everything.”
Zini denied that cigarettes had been placed in his vehicle and urged Ben David to tell the truth.