As Japan and friends waited through a terrorist group's beheading of one citizen and exploiting another, the world wondered again what sort of men would make and carry out such dastardly actions. Spokesmen of the Islamic State (IS) kidnappers blamed the Japanese government most of all. Their crackpot reasoning was that Tokyo had distributed aid money to help the victims of the IS war. Therefore, the IS should get the same amount of money, or Japanese captives would have to die in yet another IS blood-letting.
Every abduction is unique, and every ransom demand must be studied individually. But there really is no way for a civilised world, nation or group to deal with the so-called IS. Japan, quite rightly, made no appeal to the IS spokesman who claimed he carried out the death threats in a chilling video. Rather, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe demanded that the group release hostages Haruna Yukawa, 42, and Kenji Goto, 47. Yukawa was apparently killed.
Mr Abe made no public attempt to negotiate with the killers. He ignored the IS's propagandist, apparently British, who has conducted the online threats and executions — thus far — of three US, one Japanese and two UK citizens. These are only the most publicised cases. At least 10 Kurds and many Syrians have been taped while being executed, and videos shown online.
The most publicised cases of IS murders have involved aid workers and journalists. These are precisely the people who go to conflict areas unarmed, and only in the spirit of helping. "Jihadi John", as the masked IS executioner calls himself, invites taunts of cowardice for such abductions and murders. One must consider also that the IS victims such as US newsmen, British aid workers and the two Japanese all were aware of the potential dangers when they went to the Syria-Iraq region.
The hostages from first-world countries provide the IS front-page coverage. It should be better known that the IS conducts widespread, bloody and despicable acts against tens of thousands of people who were already living in areas invaded by the cruel and murderous IS. Last week, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ran a chilling, 12-minute story obtained by two of the ABC's news team. Reporter Matt Brown and cameraman Mat Marsic deserve not only congratulations on a revealing news report, but worldwide distribution.
The report, carried by the ABC's news show 7:30, was simply chilling. The newsmen trekked to the IS's war zone. They tracked down four Yazidi women who were not just enslaved, raped, sold and brutalised — they testified in detail that those involved in the atrocities were two Australian citizens. Mohammed Elomar and his friend Khaled Sharrouf, who obtained infamy by having his seven-year-old son carry the head of a man he killed, are well known in Australia. Now, thanks to the ABC, so are their butchery, arrogant racism and twisted interpretations of the Koran.
The Yazidi comprise a small (less than one million) community living near the Iraq-Turkey-Syria border regions. They practice a unique religion which includes elements from the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths. The current bullies of the IS, who have so blatantly and happily profaned and twisted Islam, claim they have the right to rule, own and sell Yazidi because they are superior.
Such odious views must never be allowed to prevail. No sane person can support the type of hate displayed by the IS. People everywhere will oppose the IS for its refusal to be civilised.