State Attorney Amit Aisman insisted on filing the case involving smuggling goods into the Gaza Strip under the charge of aiding the enemy in wartime—the gravest offense in Israeli law—despite the fierce objection of Southern District prosecutors, i24News reported.

The charge, which carries a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment, was included in the indictments against 12 suspects, including Betzalel Zini, the Shin Bet chief’s brother.

The prosecutors, led by District Attorney Erez Padan, strongly objected to the move, arguing that the charge was not sufficiently supported by evidence from a legal standpoint, contradicts common sense, does not align with existing legal precedents, and fails to meet the required principle of proportionality.

Despite Padan’s professional pushback, Isman overruled his arguments and refused to withdraw the charge from the indictments.

Similar scathing criticism was voiced last week by Adv. Yuval Kaplinsky, former head of the State Prosecution International Division, who used unusually harsh language against Isman, calling his decision “a display of impaired judgment, professional negligence, intoxication with power, and loss of direction.”

He added, “There is clear evidence of a forced and contrived labeling of the charge, accompanied by a mistaken and misleading application of the doctrine of foreseeability, insensitivity amounting to a prosecutorial rampage, and zero strategic planning regarding the sentence that will ultimately be imposed.”

It should be noted that last month, indictments were filed in a similar case involving soldiers from the Bedouin reconnaissance battalion accused of smuggling cigarettes into Gaza—but they faced a less severe national security charge, carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Senior political commentator Amit Segal said at the time: “We live in a remarkable era of law enforcement in which it’s better to be a Bedouin than to be the Shin Bet chief’s brother.”

Channel 14 journalist Yinon Magal wryly commented, “If Zini’s brother really knew about the smuggling of cigarettes into Gaza, it’s strange that Isman didn’t charge him with genocide as well.”

Likud MK Moshe Saada excoriated the State Attorney’s decision. “The failed and unfit Amit Isman continues to use his position for political purposes, systematically targeting members of the national camp,” he stated.

Saada added, “The bizarre directive to add the offense of aiding the enemy—punishable by death or life imprisonment—over cigarette smuggling is part of a deliberate witch hunt aimed at triggering a constitutional crisis or the resignation of the Shin Bet chief, who exposed the Military Advocate General affair and refuses to align with Isman and his deep-state colleagues.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)