The Be'er Sheva Magistrate's Court sentenced Dr. Mohammed Azzam to 27 months in prison on Monday after convicting him of membership in the Islamic State terror organization. Azzam worked as a physician at Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva, where he treated civilians and wounded soldiers, while maintaining a decade-long pattern of consuming ISIS propaganda, swearing allegiance to the group's leader after the October 7 massacre, and keeping bomb-making and poison manuals on his devices.
Judge Shosh Shtarit's verdict found that from 2014 until his arrest in July 2024, Azzam systematically consumed ISIS propaganda materials. Over the years his identification with the organization deepened, and after the October 7 attack, in the midst of the Swords of Iron war, he decided to join its ranks and swore an oath of loyalty to its leader.
The court determined that after taking the oath, Azzam's radicalization accelerated further. Judge Shtarit emphasized that this was not a case of consuming content out of curiosity alone, but rather a deep and prolonged process of ideological radicalization that included building operational capability and readiness.
One of the central findings in the case was Azzam's possession of manuals for making explosives and poisons on his devices. The court ruled that holding these materials created a severe potential for harm to state security and public safety.
The court assigned particular severity to the fact that Azzam served as a physician in a public hospital where both civilians and wounded soldiers were treated. The defendant's medical role was one of the factors examined in determining the sentence, alongside the duration of his radicalization, the volume of content he accumulated, and his joining of the terror organization during the war.
Attorney Hofit Kantrowitz from the Southern District Attorney's Office, who handled the case together with Attorney Tehila Nidam, said after sentencing: "This is a serious case in which an Israeli citizen chose to join the ISIS terror organization, swore allegiance to it after October 7, and for years systematically consumed terror content, watched combat and execution videos, and even downloaded manuals for making explosives and poisons."
