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Islamic State: Sotloff not innocent, “for this man was a Jew”

Oct 15, 2014 11:20 pm By Robert Spencer

Sotloff2“You will surely find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers to be the Jews…” (Qur’an 5:82). So how could Sotloff have been innocent in their eyes?

“ISIS Magazine Justifies Murder of Steven Sotloff ‘The Jew,'” by Ari Soffer, Arutz Sheva, October 14, 2014:

The Islamic State terror group (also known as ISIS or ISIL) recently released what it says was a letter written by murdered American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff just days before his execution, and justifies his killing by noting that he was a Jew.

Sotloff was beheaded by ISIS days after the first such execution of another journalist, James Foley, in revenge for a US-led air campaign against the jihadi group in Iraq. As the campaign spread to Syria, two other hostages – British aid workers David Haines and Alan Hennings – were similarly executed.

In the latest issue of ISIS’s English-language magazine, Dabiq, the group responds to criticism of its decision to systematically execute journalists and aid workers by citing Sotloff’s Jewish heritage and Israeli citizenship.

“The case of Steven Sotloff contains a direct refutation against those who portray western journalism and humanitarian aid as purely innocent, for this man was a Jew and citizen of the Jewish state,” the article read.

It went on to note that apart from working for several major US publications such as TIME, Foreign Policy and Christian Science Monitory, Sotloff also did freelance work for two Israeli publications: the Jerusalem Post and the Jerusalem Report.

Sotloff graduated from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya after studying there between 2005 and 2008, and eventually made aliyah (emigrated to Israel). But testimony from freed European hostages suggest Sotloff’s captors did not have any idea he was Jewish or Israeli – despite the reportedly great lengths he went towards to keep his Judaism in captivity.

That was largely down to a concerted campaign by friends, family and associates to scour the internet for any hint of his Jewish or Israeli identity and have the information removed, in the knowledge that his life would be in even greater danger should ISIS find out.

The article cited reports of the campaign to hide Sotloff’s identity, and provided a photocopy of his Israeli identity card.

“The war against Islam for the sake of tāghūt [rebelling against Islam – ed.] is a media war as well as a military and intelligence struggle. It is not surprising then to know that dozens of specialists were employed to hide his Jewish identity from the world prior to his execution. This intelligence operation was done in cooperation with the Jewish state and media,” it read.

The article ends with the previously-unseen text of a letter it claims was written by Sotloff days before he was beheaded. In it, Sotloff tells his mother that her appeals to ISIS’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi were received but essentially being ignored as long as US airstrikes persisted. In what was likely a pre-scripted appeal by his captors, designed to emotionally torment his family, Sotloff then appeals to his mother to pressure the US government….

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Filed Under: Islamic antisemitism, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) Tagged With: featured


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Comments

  1. bernie says

    Oct 16, 2014 at 3:52 am

    And James Foley was an Irish-American Roman Catholic. The point is, if you’re anyone but a rabid, vicious, Islamofascist Wahabi Muslim, the ISIS hates you, thinks you’re a coffee crisp or a kuffar or whatever, and considers you evil and fit to murder.

    • paddy says

      Oct 16, 2014 at 8:04 am

      I agree, Bernie

  2. Gart says

    Oct 16, 2014 at 7:00 am

    I thought they were Salafi no?

    • John C. Barile says

      Oct 16, 2014 at 8:13 am

      Yes. And the wellspring of Salafism is Wahabi Saudi Arabia. A rose by any other name . . . .

  3. PRCS says

    Oct 16, 2014 at 7:28 am

    When I first saw the word “murdered”, I was glad it was finally not being referred to as an “execution”.

    Well, that didn’t last through even a full sentence.

    “murdered American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff just days before his execution, and justifies his killing”

    Oh well, not what I at first thought. Rather, apparently written to avoid using the same word more than once.

  4. jr says

    Oct 16, 2014 at 8:04 am

    isnt the leader of the islamic state a jew by birth?

  5. paddy says

    Oct 16, 2014 at 8:25 am

    I needed to see the beheading of Mr James Foley back in August to in someway demonstrate to me and the wider world that these people are simply a bunch of savages who base their world view on fear and oppression rather than as a viable alternative to any fearful and oppressive regime that currently exists in the middle east (apart from Israel).

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