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An Israeli doctor who pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State after the October 7 attacks has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for membership of the terrorist organisation.
Mohammed Azzam, who worked at Soroka Medical Centre in southern Israel, was convicted at Beersheba Magistrates’ Court after investigators discovered extensive extremist material on his electronic devices, including execution videos and manuals for manufacturing explosives and poisons.
The court also imposed a 12-month suspended sentence and a fine of 15,000 shekels.
Judge Shosh Shitrit found that Azzam had undergone a prolonged process of radicalisation, systematically consuming Isis propaganda from 2014 until his arrest in July 2024.
His identification with the terrorist group intensified after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, when he pledged allegiance to its leader.
The judge rejected the argument that his activities stemmed from curiosity, concluding that they reflected sustained ideological radicalisation and the development of operational knowledge that posed a potential threat to public safety.
Prosecutors sought a harsher sentence, highlighting the seriousness of his actions and the danger posed by his position as a doctor at a public hospital treating civilians and wounded soldiers.
“This is a serious case in which an Israeli citizen chose to join the ISIS terrorist organisation and pledged allegiance to it after October 7,” prosecutor Hofit Kantarovitz said.
Authorities have referred the case to Israel’s health ministry for consideration of revoking Azzam’s medical licence.
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