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Ex-Soroka Hospital Doctor Convicted of ISIS Membership
Be'er Sheva court convicts Dr. Muhammad Azzam. After Oct. 7, during Israel's Swords of Iron war, he pledged allegiance to ISIS and downloaded guides on explosives and toxins; the judge warns he could have harmed Israelis.
- שלומי דיאז
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(Photo: Nati Shohat, Flash90)The Be'er Sheva Magistrate's Court today (Thursday) convicted Dr. Muhammad Azzam, who served as a physician at Soroka Medical Center, of the offense of membership in a terrorist organization.
According to the indictment filed against the physician, who was arrested in July 2024, starting in 2014 he intensively watched content related to ISIS activity. After the events of October 7, 2023, against the backdrop of the "Swords of Iron" war, Azzam decided to join ISIS and swore allegiance to the organization.
The indictment further states that "the defendant sent his friends documentation from the events of October 7, while the tone of his correspondence reflected mockery of and glee at the misfortune of the State of Israel; likewise, during 2024 he downloaded information about how to prepare explosives and about toxins."
In the verdict, Be'er Sheva Magistrate's Court Judge Shosh Shitrit ruled that "the absence of direct contact with a representative of the terrorist organization does not detract from Azzam's being a member of the organization, since he acted in accordance with the 'joining protocol' the organization set for its operatives abroad."
This finding was based, among other things, on expert opinions submitted during the trial, from which it emerges that ISIS carried out a structural change in order to cope with robust counterterrorism efforts and shifted to a model of inspiring and motivating individuals to act, without the need for direct guidance or a hierarchical link.
The judge also referred to one of the testimonies presented during the trial, from which it emerges that: "the combination between the defendant's physical access to soldiers, and to Israeli civilians in general, by virtue of his work at the 'Soroka' hospital, and the 'nature' of the conversations he held with his friends, could have led him to carry out active operations in the spirit of the extremist organization, and it is possible that he would have done so had he not been arrested."
