The State Attorney's Office filed an indictment today (Thursday) in the Jerusalem District Court against Muhammad Shelby, a pharmacy student, 22 years old from Beit Hanina in Jerusalem, for preparing a terrorist act of murder and receiving training for terrorist purposes.
According to the indictment, the defendant planned to carry out attacks against security forces and Jewish civilians using explosive devices and deadly poisons, with the aim of causing mass killings.
The prosecution is asking the court to order Shelby's arrest until the end of the legal proceedings against him.
According to the indictment, filed through Attorney Amichai Marks of the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office, Shelby - a third-year pharmacy student who also worked as a pharmacist's assistant - underwent a process of ideological radicalization, among other things following the events of October 7 and the Iron Swords War.
Within this framework, he systematically consumed content identified with the terrorist organizations Hamas and ISIS, and decided to exploit the knowledge he acquired in his studies and his access to chemical substances for the purpose of carrying out deadly attacks.
In early 2025, angered by parking tickets issued to worshippers near a mosque in the Beit Hanina neighborhood, Shelby planned to plant an explosive device in the place where law enforcement officers usually stood. To this end, he monitored their activities for about two months and downloaded instructions for making explosives from the Internet.
The plan did not come to fruition after law enforcement stopped arriving at the scene.
Later, Shelby planned to carry out a large-scale attack, in which, he said, he wanted to kill "a lot of Jews." To this end, he joined Telegram groups affiliated with terrorist organizations, including a group affiliated with ISIS, and downloaded dozens of files containing instructions for making explosives, explosives, and deadly poisons.
In addition, he copied into a notebook recipes for preparing poisons capable of causing death through contact, smell, or drinking, and documented materials that could be used to make explosives.
According to the indictment, Shelby even moved from the planning stage to actual preparatory acts. He traveled to Ramallah on two occasions, purchased chemical materials and appropriate equipment, splitting the purchases so as not to arouse suspicion, and stored them in his room at home.
He then conducted a chemical experiment in his bathroom, setting fire to a mixture he had prepared to test the ingredients. Shelby also deleted files and search history from his phone in an attempt to cover up his actions.
The indictment attributes the offenses of preparing for a terrorist act, which is murder, and receiving training for terrorist purposes.
