The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office filed a severe indictment at the Jerusalem District Court against Muhammad Shalabi, a 22-year-old resident of the Beit Hanina neighborhood, charging him with preparing an act of terrorism involving murder and undergoing training for terrorist purposes.
According to the indictment, Shalabi, who at the time was a third-year pharmacy student at Al-Quds University and worked as a pharmacy assistant, leveraged his scientific knowledge and access to chemicals to plan lethal mass-casualty attacks targeting Israeli security forces and Jewish civilians.
Prosecutors described an accelerated process of religious and ideological radicalization following the October 7, 2023 terror attacks and the Swords of Iron war. Shalabi frequently visited the Abd al-Hamid Shoman Mosque near his home, strengthened ties with extremist Islamist figures, and systematically consumed content produced by Hamas and ISIS. Believing that chemical weapons could inflict more widespread damage and shock than conventional firearms, he devised several operational schemes, including producing homemade explosives, planting remotely detonated bombs, and synthesizing deadly poisons.
His operational activity initially began with a local grievance: in early 2025, enraged by parking tickets issued to worshippers’ vehicles near the mosque, Shalabi tracked municipal enforcement officers for about two months, intending to plant an explosive device under a tree where they routinely stood. He abandoned the plot only after the inspectors stopped visiting the site. However, he subsequently expanded his ambitions to plan a mass-casualty attack ahead of “Judgment Day,” a scenario in which he believed Jerusalem would be conquered.
To advance his plans, Shalabi joined Telegram channels affiliated with terrorist organizations, primarily an ISIS-linked group, downloading dozens of instructional guides. In an academic notebook, he documented formulas for poisons capable of killing through contact, inhalation, or ingestion, alongside methods for synthesizing explosives, including from aspirin.
He then split his purchases to evade suspicion, procuring chemicals in Ramallah such as hydrochloric acid, potassium permanganate, and potassium chlorate. He also conducted a combustion test in his bathtub by mixing potassium chlorate with sugar and igniting it. His arrest in late August halted the preparations, and the prosecution is now seeking an extended prison sentence.