Shalabi began planning an attack in early 2025 after becoming angry over parking tickets issued to worshippers near a mosque in Beit Hanina.
By United with Israel Staff
Israeli prosecutors filed an indictment Thursday against a 22-year-old Arab pharmacy student from Jerusalem accused of plotting mass-casualty terrorist attacks against Jews and security forces using explosives and deadly poisons.
Mohammed Shalabi, a resident of the Beit Hanina neighborhood of Jerusalem, is charged with preparing to commit a terrorist act of murder and receiving training for terrorist purposes, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors allege that Shalabi, a third-year pharmacy student who also worked as a pharmacy assistant, underwent a process of ideological radicalization following the Oct. 7 massacre and the ensuing war.
He allegedly began systematically consuming material associated with Hamas and ISIS and decided to use the knowledge acquired through his pharmacy studies and his access to information about chemical substances to prepare terrorist attacks.
According to the indictment, Shalabi began planning an attack in early 2025 after becoming angry over parking tickets issued to worshippers near a mosque in Beit Hanina.
He allegedly decided to plant an explosive device at a location frequented by enforcement personnel and monitored their activity for approximately two months while downloading online manuals explaining how to manufacture explosives.
The plan was abandoned after enforcement personnel stopped coming to the location, prosecutors said.
Shalabi subsequently began planning a much larger attack aimed at killing, in his words, “many Jews,” according to the indictment.
As part of those preparations, he allegedly joined Telegram groups associated with terrorist organizations, including an ISIS-affiliated group, and downloaded dozens of files containing instructions for manufacturing explosive devices, explosives and lethal poisons.
Prosecutors say Shalabi copied recipes for producing poisons into a notebook, including substances capable of causing death through contact, inhalation or ingestion. He also allegedly documented materials that could be used to manufacture explosives.
The indictment alleges that Shalabi eventually moved beyond research and planning and began taking concrete steps toward carrying out an attack.
On two separate occasions, he traveled to Ramallah to purchase chemicals and equipment, deliberately splitting the purchases in an effort to avoid attracting suspicion, according to prosecutors.
He then allegedly stored the materials in his bedroom and conducted a chemical experiment in the bathtub of his home, igniting a mixture he had prepared to test the materials.
Prosecutors further allege that Shalabi attempted to conceal his activities by deleting files and his search history from his cellphone.
The indictment was filed in Jerusalem District Court by attorney Amichai Marks of the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.
The State Attorney’s Office has asked the court to keep Shalabi in custody until the conclusion of the proceedings against him.
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