An image grab taken March 10, 2015 from a video reportedly released by the Islamic State group through Al-Furqan Media shows a youth identifying himself as Mohammed Said Ismail Musallam and addressing the camera in Arabic at an undisclosed location/AFP
In the video, a youth identifying himself as 19-year-old Mohammed Said Ismail Musallam recounts how he was recruited by Israeli intelligence.
Dressed in an orange jumpsuit that is standard in videos of IS executions, he is shown kneeling in front of the boy, who appears to be no more than 12 years old, and a man standing at his side.
The man, speaking in French, issues threats against Jews in France, before the boy walks around in front of the hostage and then shoots him in the forehead using a pistol.
The boy, who shouts “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest” in Arabic), then shoots the man four more times as he lies on the ground.
In February, Musallam’s father denied in comments to AFP the IS claim that his son was an Israeli agent.
“My son is innocent; IS accused him of working for Mossad because he tried to run away,” Said Musallam said, claiming that his son had travelled to Syria to join the jihadists.
Following release of the video Tuesday, Musallam said he did “not know anything”.
“People are calling us; they told us IS sent a video in which Mohammed says he works for the Israeli Shin Bet. That’s not true; my son doesn’t work for the Shin Bet. IS did this to scare the world.
“He’s dead, he’s a martyr. Mohammed is just a child, like a baby, only 19 years old.”
– ‘Absolutely not religious’ –
“He is absolutely not religious,” Musallam said earlier, adding that perhaps his son had been recruited through the Internet.
Dabiq, the IS online English-language magazine, said Mohammed had been tasked by Israel with gathering information on IS bases and weapons and on Palestinians volunteering to fight for the group in Syria.
A spokesman for Israel’s Shin Bet security service told AFP Mohammed had left home on October 24 “on his own initiative”, implying that he had not been sent by Israel.
Official Israeli policy is not to comment on such allegations.
The Shin Bet spokesman said Mohammed travelled from Israel to Turkey and “from there crossed to Syria and joined IS to fight for the organisation”.
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