ISIS claims to have captured Israeli Arab from Jerusalem working with Mossad

Said Ismahil Muslam claims in "interview" to ISIS magazine that he was recruited by Mossad to infiltrate the terrorist organization.

FEBRUARY 12, 2015 17:24

Muhammad Sa'id Ismail, an ISIS fighter who claims to be a former Mossad agent from Jerusalem‏ (photo credit: ARAB MEDIA) — Muhammad Sa'id Ismail, an ISIS fighter who claims to be a former Mossad agent from Jerusalem‏

(photo credit: ARAB MEDIA)

The Islamic State claimed Thursday it had captured an Israeli Arab from Jerusalem who had been recruited by the Mossad.

It is the first time such a claim has been made. Over the past two years, there have been numerous reports of Israeli Arabs who illegally entered Syria by way of Turkey and joined Islamic State or other radical jihadi groups fighting against the Assad regime or the government in Iraq.

Islamic State’s magazine identified the “Mossad spy” as 19-year-old Muhammad Sai’d Ismail Musallam.

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Thursday night said Musallam, a resident of east Jerusalem, had left Israel on October 24 without the knowledge of his family to join Islamic State. It declined comment on whether he was an Israeli agent.

In an “interview” published in the magazine, which is an organ of Islamic State’s media and digital house, Musallam said he had been recruited by his Jewish neighbor, a police officer.

“He came to me one day and asked if I wanted to work for the Israeli intelligence,” Musallam confessed in the interview.

”I told him I would think about his offer.”

Later the police officer met with Musallam’s father and brother.

“They both encouraged me to do it, and told me it was a very good job. They told me that there was a lot of money in it, and that you can advance to higher positions. I knew at that point that they themselves were working as spies.”

According to the “interview confession,” two Mossad officers named Eli and Miro later approached him and became his case officers and handlers.

“ They offered me a monthly salary,” he told the magazine.

“They would also give me a house and would take care of any issues I had and any documents I needed, as well as my living needs when I returned,” he said.

Musallam added that he was trained in a camp in east Jerusalem he named as “Anatawt” for one month, for which he received payment of NIS 5,000.

His training included the use of weapons, communication and how to stand during an investigation, he said, adding that his mission was to penetrate Islamic State and collect information about weapon warehouses, especially where rockets are being stored, and to find and identify Palestinians from the West Bank who had joined the terrorist organization.

According to the magazine, Musallam was captured because one of his “amirs” (commanders) suspected his behavior, which didn’t fit the pattern of other devoted volunteers.

At a certain stage, fearing that he was exposed, he said he wanted to return to home but that it was “too late” and he was put in prison where, during interrogations, he confessed to being a spy working as an agent for the Mossad.

Unfortunately, following this public confession, it is most likely that the “spy” will be executed.

Over the past two years, there have been numerous reports of Israeli Arabs who illegally entered Syria by way of Turkey and joined Islamic State or other radical jihadi groups fighting against the Assad regime or the government in Iraq.

The Shin Bet estimates there are a few dozen Israelis on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq.

A few have defected from Islamic State or, for other reasons, returned to Israel and were arrested, charged and, in some cases, already indicted and received prison terms.

There also have been reports of one or two Israeli Arabs who died fighting.

Recently, the Shin Bet exposed an effort by a few Israeli Arabs, led by a lawyer, to establish a secret Islamic State cell in Israel.