IS video purports to show killing of alleged Israeli spy

By: 10 years ago

BEIRUT—The Islamic State group released a video Tuesday that purports to show the killing of a Palestinian man accused of being a spy for Israeli intelligence.

In the 13-minute video posted online, a militant and a boy dressed in camouflage stand behind a man in an orange jumpsuit kneeling on the ground. The fighter makes a brief statement in French accusing the man of working for the Mossad before the boy steps forward and shoots the captive, identified as Mohamed Said Ismail Musalam, in the head.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the video, but it was released by the IS group’s Furqan media arm and corresponds to previous IS videos.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry declined comment. Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency said that it announced earlier this year that Musalam had left for Turkey to fight with IS.

The Islamic State group last month published a purported interview with Musalam in the militants’ online magazine. The man in the magazine’s photos looks like the man killed in the video.

Musalam’s father, Said, told The Associated Press shortly after the video’s release that he had not seen it yet. But he said his 19-year-old son left for Syria four months ago without telling his family.

Musalam later told his brother that he was going to fight with IS. He eventually contacted the family online from the extremists’ de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria and said he wanted to return home, his father said.

“I saw him with a long beard and long hair and a Kalashnikov,” his father said. “He told me, ‘Look dad, I am fed up here, it is a country of war, and I want to come back.'”

More than a month ago, the family received a call from an unidentified person who said Musalam had fled IS, was caught at a Turkish checkpoint, and was put in IS jail.

“They did not want to let him leave because if he comes back, he might be caught by the Israelis and tell them what he had seen. So they wanted to get rid of him,” the father said. “I know my son. I raised him well. I am sure he’s not working for the Mossad.”