ISIL video shows boy executing Arab-Israeli teenager accused of being a spy

The mother and father of Muhammad Musallam denied their son was working as an Israeli spy. Picture taken February 12, 2015. Ammar Awad / Reuters

BEIRUT // A video posted online by ISIL militants on Tuesday showed a boy shooting Muhammad Musallam, an Arab Israeli accused by the group of having signed up to spy for Israel’s intelligence service.

The video, published by the group’s Furqan media outlet, showed Musallam, 19, sitting in a room wearing an orange jumpsuit, talking about how he had been recruited and trained by Mossad. He said his father and elder brother had encouraged him.

After that, it showed Musallam being escorted to a field and then being shot in the head by a boy, described by an older, French-speaking fighter as one of the “cubs of the caliphate”.

Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the footage, which also appeared on Twitter feeds used by ISIL supporters.

Israeli security officials said they were aware of the video but could not confirm that it was authentic.

The video, about 13 minutes long, showed Musallam on his knees when the boy armed with a pistol and wearing a military uniform fires one bullet into Musallam’s forehead. The boy then fired three more shots into his body.

In the video, Musallam said he had joined ISIL to report to the Israelis on weapons caches, bases and Palestinian recruits. Israel and his family denied that he was a spy.

An Israeli security official had said Musallam went to Syria to fight for ISIL in October last year.

Musallam’s father has denied his son was a spy, saying a month ago that his son had gone missing while on a tourist trip to Turkey.

Said Musallam and the youth’s mother, Um Ahmad, wept at their home in East Jerusalem when they learnt of his death. Clutching her son’s photograph, Um Ahmad said: “A spy of 19? How is that possible? Why would he have gone there if he were a spy?”

Said Musallam said his son had been trying to return home when he was captured. He accused the militants of forcing his son to say he was a spy before killing him just for show.

“Mohammad was told by them to say about himself that he works for the Israelis,” Said Musallam said. “They took him as a victim, only to show the world, so the world would be afraid of them.”

* Reuters