Doctor at Beersheba Hospital arrested for allegedly swearing allegiance to ISIS
Prosecutors say Soroka Medical Center specialist Muhammad Azzam pledged himself to Islamic State after Oct. 7, wished death on wounded Israeli soldiers treated at facility
A doctor working at a hospital in Beersheba was arrested on charges that he swore allegiance to the Islamic State terror group and accessed its content online, the Israel Police and Shin Bet security agency said in a joint statement on Thursday.
Muhammad Azzam, 34, a specialist at Soroka Medical Center in the southern city, was found to have gory videos of executions on his phone, as well as instructions on preparing explosives and poisons.
He was arrested a month ago and an indictment was filed on August 8, but authorities had until now kept details of the case secret under a gag order.
In a statement on Thursday, Soroka said it was “shocked” by the development.
Azzam, a resident of Beersheba, originally from the northern Arab city of Nazareth, began showing interest in ISIS in 2014 and frequently accessed “extreme content” in the years that followed, the statement said.
According to the indictment against him, Azzam decided to join ISIS after the Hamas onslaught of October 7, and pledged allegiance to the group’s new leader, Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.
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Police said that the content found on his cellphone following his arrest included videos of executions, beheadings and images of dismembered bodies. There was also a folder titled “Explosives books” and another called “Preparing poisons” that included information on ricin and poisons prepared from rotten meat, according to the indictment.
Azzam is also said to have sent an acquaintance material showing atrocities committed on October 7 via WhatsApp, with prosecutors saying the tone of the conversation was of “laughter and showing joy.”
The indictment noted that on December 11, 2023, when wounded IDF soldiers were brought to Soroka, Azzam contacted a friend via WhatsApp and gave him details about the number of wounded and the extent of their injuries. Regarding one soldier, the acquaintance wrote that he hoped he would die soon to which Azzam responded “Ha ha, amen.”
Prosecutors said Azzam’s behavior showed he was a danger to the public, in particular due to his role as a doctor in a hospital, and sought his arrest.
In a statement, the hospital said that its management “takes the allegations very seriously and is shocked. The case is being investigated and handled by trusted law enforcement agencies, and we are confident in their handling of the matter.”
