Steven Sotloff held dual citizenship. He was an American and Israeli citizen. This explains why Obama was so dismissive of the beheading. Sotloff kept his Judaism secret from his Muslim captives (for obvious reasons.)
Cleared for publication: Steven Satloff was #Israel citizen RIP
— Paul Hirschson (@paulhirschson) September 3, 2014
An Israeli official revealed on Wednesday that Steven Sotloff, the American journalist seen killed in a video by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Tuesday, was a dual Israeli-U.S. citizen.
“Cleared for publication: Steven Sotloff was #Israel citizen RIP,” Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry tweeted on Wednesday.
Reuters reported the information was withheld for fear it could further endanger Sotloff’s life.
Sotloff, who was born in the U.S. and grew up in Florida, reportedly emigrated to Israel in 2005 and studied at a university near Tel Aviv before embarking on his journalism career. On Tuesday, the monitoring service SITE Intelligence Group reported that ISIL had released a video in which Sotloff is killed in a manner similar to the beheading of James Foley, the photojournalist who was killed last month. The executioner is wearing all black clothing similar to the man who killed Foley and threatened to kill Sotloff in the video released on Aug. 19.
Sotloff also reportedly kept his Judaism secret from his captives. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, citing a former fellow captive, said Sotloff would tell his captors he was sick when he fasted for the Yom Kippur holiday.