An unusual report by i24News correspondent Avishai Grinzaig on Wednesday evening revealed details of negotiations over a plea deal with Yonatan Urich in the Bild leak affair

According to the report, Central District Attorney Chaim Wismonsky reached an agreement with Urich’s attorney on a plea deal under which Urich would serve nine months of community service. The proposal was then submitted to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who approved it.

However, during a meeting with State Attorney Amit Isman, he expressed opposition to the deal and effectively vetoed it. Baharav-Miara chose not to insist on her position because the case falls under the State Attorney’s authority.

At the same meeting, Isman made clear that he would agree to a plea deal only if Urich received at least 12 months of actual imprisonment. Urich rejected the proposal, and no further plea negotiations have taken place since then.

Isman and Baharav-Miara both rejected the report, responding that “the  entire report is false.”

According to Grinzaig, the two later even threatened that if the report were published, they would issue a statement to the media saying that it was false.

Following their denial, Grinzaig added: “It takes audacity, and also quite a bit of nerve, to deny a report and even threaten to issue a statement to the press when they know that I have evidence proving that the information is true.”

It should be noted that earlier this year, Isman 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 indictments were filed despite the fact that a month earlier, 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.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)