ISIS Urges Followers in Europe to Resort to Cyanide Poisoning

A shopper checks her shopping list in a supermarket in London, Britain April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall
A shopper checks her shopping list in a supermarket in London, Britain April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall
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ISIS Urges Followers in Europe to Resort to Cyanide Poisoning

A shopper checks her shopping list in a supermarket in London, Britain April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall
A shopper checks her shopping list in a supermarket in London, Britain April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall

ISIS terrorist organization has issued new threats to Europe by urging its supporters to resort to cyanide poisoning in grocery stores and supermarkets.

In a cryptic message posted by ISIS on a channel traditionally used by these terrorists, lone wolves are called forth by the organization to embark on this latest act by using the poison as a new hidden weapon against the West.

Observers said that the group is resorting to new techniques after the huge losses it suffered in Iraq and Syria after losing control on Mosul, Tal Afar and large areas of Raqqa despite ISIS’ claims that it is the most influential group in the world.

ISIS told its supporters that the cyanide poisoning method has been tested on prisoners and it works.

The observers said several casualties have been reported after ISIS used the food poison tests on the prisoners.

Cyanide is a highly toxic chemical compound. It is mostly known in spy movies whereby it is used to get rid of the enemy or resorted to as suicide pills by spies, just in case they were captured.

The organization has also given instructions to issue threats in forms of fliers distributed in public and through mail boxes to terrorize the greatest number of people.

Amr Abdulrahman, a researcher on Islamic movements in Egypt, said that ISIS’ new terrorist plot lies in causing thousands of casualties.

He warned that the group could resort to establishing small cells in Europe to carry out large scale terrorist attacks to spread panic in the West.



Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Party Leaves Government over Conscription Bill

 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
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Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Party Leaves Government over Conscription Bill

 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)

One of Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism, said it was quitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition due to a long-running dispute over failure to draft a bill to exempt yeshiva students from military service.

Six of the remaining seven members of UTJ, which is comprised of the Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael factions, wrote letters of resignation. Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of UTJ, had resigned a month ago.

That would leave Netanyahu with a razor thin majority of 61 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, or parliament.

It was not clear whether Shas, another ultra-Orthodox party, would follow suit.

Degel Hatorah said in a statement that after conferring with its head rabbis, "and following repeated violations by the government to its commitments to ensure the status of holy yeshiva students who diligently engage in their studies ... (its MKs) have announced their resignation from the coalition and the government."

Ultra-Orthodox parties have argued that a bill to exempt yeshiva students was a key promise in their agreement to join the coalition in late 2022.

A spokesperson for Goldknopf confirmed that in all, seven UTJ Knesset members are leaving the government.

Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers have long threatened to leave the coalition over the conscription bill.

Some religious parties in Netanyahu's coalition are seeking exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether.

The ultra-Orthodox have long been exempt from military service, which applies to most other young Israelis, but last year the Supreme Court ordered the defense ministry to end that practice and start conscripting seminary students.

Netanyahu had been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis.

The exemption, in place for decades and which over the years has spared an increasingly large number of people, has become a heated topic in Israel with the military still embroiled in a war in Gaza.