ISIS continues to strike US citizens. A shocking video released in the past few days, shows the American-Jewish journalist, Steven Sotloff being executed in the same gruesome way his friend James Foley was killed a few weeks ago. A video expert confirmed that the execution video seems to be credible.
Another captive that was held with Sotloff by ISIS and released, told Yediot Achronot that Sotloff managed to fast last Yom Kippur without revealing his Jewish identity to his captors. “He told them he was sick and did not want to eat, even though that day we were served eggs, it looked like he was secretly praying in the direction of Jerusalem, he looked at where the Muslims were praying and slightly changed his position.”
There were strong reactions around the world after the release of the video. Lawmakers in the United States are demanding that President Barack Obama will formulate a plan to defeat ISIS, after he admitted over the weekend that he does not have a strategy that will go against the extremist organization that’s taking over more and more parts of the world.
Sotloff, 31, a Florida resident, worked as a freelance reporter for TIME magazine, Foreign Policy, and other media. He enjoyed covering that area, and mastered the Arabic language.
Barak Barfi, a spokesman for the family, said after learning of the video, “the family knows of the horrific tragedy and is grieving privately.” He added that the family was not sure about the reliability of the video.