Israeli citizen arrested for joining ISIS, was recruited on TikTok

Bedouin man from southern Israel arrested after being recruited by ISIS via social media outlet.

By World Israel News Staff

An Arab-Israeli man from a Bedouin town in southern Israel was indicted Friday, on charges of membership in a terrorist organization, after he was allegedly recruited by ISIS via a social media outlet.

Twenty-year-old Hamza Abu Zaila, a resident of the town of Rahat in the Negev was charged Friday in the Southern District Court in Beersheba, a month after he was arrested by the Shin Bet – Israel Security Agency.

Abu Zaila is accused of being recruited by ISIS through the terrorist organization’s TikTok account.

According to the indictment, Abu Zaila began following ISIS content on social media a year ago, and shortly thereafter, he started to openly identify as a “mujahid,” or Islamic religious fighter.

Later, Abu Zaila officially swore allegiance to ISIS remotely on the internet, after contacting the organization through its TikTok account.

In addition to trying to recruit others for ISIS by spreading the terror group’s propaganda materials, Abu Zaila plotted to carry out a terrorist attack against Jews, with his ISIS handlers urging him to attack targets in Israel, due to his inability to travel to selected targets abroad.

Along with membership in a terrorist organization, Friday’s indictment charged Abu Zaila with being in contact with a foreign agent and conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack.

Israel has also cracked down on ISIS’ online operations, Reuters reported earlier this year, seizing a number of cryptocurrency accounts linked to the terror group.