Sunday April 19th, a new Islamic State video shows the murder of at least a dozen Ethiopian men through lopping off heads and shooting at them. The video according to viewers is described as showing two separate groups of hostages being killed by different shoots in Libya. The groups shown on video are named as Wilayat Barqa, this group claims to hold territory on the Mediterranean coast, then Wilayat Fazzan, which controls part the of country’s south. The video has the hallmarks of other IS films.
The video begins with a description of Christian churches and calls the Holy Trinity (the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit) a form of polytheism, and that worshippers deserve punishment. Near the end of the video, two groups of men in both orange and black jumpsuits are shown to be escorted by armed IS members in two different places. A man with his identity hidden addresses the camera and gives a warning to viewers. His warning goes “Muslim blood that was shed under the hands of your religion is not cheap. We swear to Allah the one, who disgraced you by our hands, you will not have safety even in your dreams until you embrace Islam.”
The men executed are declared in the video to be “worshipers of the cross belonging to the hostile Ethiopian Church.”
After the mystery man is done speaking the video jumps between both groups as one is shot and then the other is being decapitated by knives. The video also includes IS members breaking, defacing, general disingenuous behavior, and vandalism to Catholic and Christian iconography. While crosses fall, IS members are shown replacing iconography with the group’s black flag.
IS takes things to the literal next level with their malevolent antics. Killing based on a different religion and killings that occurred during wars between the Catholic Church and Muslims at least 1000 years ago is in its entirety is violence based on ignorance and fear not any kind of faith. This could be a propaganda film to gain more supporters by either converting or gathering other misinformed Muslims against another group of people. Back in the 1930’s Hitler had rallied everyone against other “undesirables” in order to gain support. This tactic has been used before in human history and it is a tactic to gain power in the absence of any justifiable authority.
https://news.vice.com/article/gruesome-islamic-state-video-purportedly-shows-mass-killing-of-ethiopian-christians