East Jerusalem pharmacology student charged with plot to kill Jews with chemicals, explosives

Prosecutors charge a 22-year-old pharmacology student at the Palestinian al-Quds University in East Jerusalem with planning to manufacture explosives and chemical weapons to kill Jews, starting with an attack on law enforcement in revenge for parking tickets given to members of his mosque.

Muhammad Shalbi is indicted at the Jerusalem District Court on charges of preparing to carry out murder with a terror motive, which carries a 15-year prison sentence, and receiving training for terrorist purposes, which carries a seven-year prison sentence.

Shalbi, who was arrested on August 30, had “undergone a process of religious revival and ideological radicalization” following the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office says in the indictment.

He began to regularly attend a mosque in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, and to consume content “identified with the terrorist groups Hamas and ISIS,” and ultimately decided to “act against the State of Israel and security forces,” prosecutors say.

Shalbi planned around the start of 2025 to detonate an explosive near the mosque against officers “amid his anger over parking tickets given the vehicles of worshipers who had parked near the mosque during prayers,” the indictment says.

As part of that plan, the suspect allegedly tracked the officers’ activity for about two months and downloaded instructional material on explosives. He halted the activity after the officers stopped coming, the indictment says.

Later, and until his arrest, Shalbi “planned to carry out a terrorist attack in preparation for the ‘Day of Judgment,’ in which, according to his view, Jerusalem would be conquered,” prosecutors say, adding that the suspect said in interrogation that his goal was to kill “a ton of Jews.”

Around September 2025, the suspect allegedly drove to Ramallah twice to purchase a thermometer, a measuring cup, half a liter of hydrochloric acid, and between four and ten grams each of potassium permanganate, potassium chlorate, sodium sulfate and sodium hydroxide. Some of the compounds can produce chlorine gas, a choking agent that has been used as a chemical weapon.

Shalbi allegedly also performed an experiment in his bathtub in which he mixed potassium chlorate and sugar, which creates a highly combustible material.

In addition, the suspect researched how to produce an explosive out of acetylsalicylic acid, which is sold in pharmacies as aspirin, according to the indictment.

As part of his preparations for the “Day of Judgment” attack, Shalbi allegedly downloaded dozens of files on the manufacturing of explosives and chemical weapons from a Telegram group identified with ISIS. He later deleted those files and his search history “with the aim of covering up his actions,” prosecutors say.

He also copied to his notebook two recipes for “toxins that can kill people through touch or taste,” as well as a list of potentially explosive materials, including some that are available in pharmacies, the indictment says.