ISIS-inspired pharmacy student charged with plotting mass killing of Jews using poisons

Mohammed Shalabi, 22, a pharmacy student from the Beit Hanina neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem, planned to carry out terrorist attacks against security forces and Jewish civilians using explosive devices and deadly poisons, with the aim of causing mass casualties, according to an indictment filed against him Thursday in the Jerusalem District Court.

According to the indictment, filed by attorney Amihai Marx of the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office, Shalabi, a third-year pharmacy student at al-Quds University in Abu Dis who also worked as a pharmacy assistant, underwent a process of ideological radicalization, partly in response to the events of October 7 and the subsequent war.

During this period, he systematically consumed content associated with the Hamas and ISIS terrorist organizations and decided to use the knowledge he had gained through his studies and his access to chemicals to carry out deadly terrorist attacks.

In early 2025, angered by parking tickets issued to worshippers near a mosque in the Beit Hanina neighborhood, Shalabi planned to plant an explosive device at a location where enforcement officers regularly stationed.To prepare for the attack, he monitored their activities for about two months and downloaded bomb-making instructions from the internet. The plan was never carried out because enforcement officers stopped coming to the area.

Read more: Ynet Global (Israel)