World News

ISIS beheads Muslim clerics mistaken for Christian priests

Terrorists affiliated with ISIS thought they were killing Christians, but the victims were in fact Muslim.

The Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate in the Sinai, Egypt, over the weekend beheaded two men that it mistakenly described in a statement as Christian priests, but were later identified as leading Muslim religious figures from among the local Bedouins.

Pictures of the gruesome event were posted on Twitter. They showed one of the men, elderly with a white beard and kneeling in an orange jumpsuit with his neck pressed against a stand. A masked ISIS executioner dressed in black is seen raising a long sword over his head.

The victims were identified as a blind Sufi sheikh, Suleiman Abu Heraz, who was abducted two weeks ago from his farm south of the town of el-Arish. Some reports say he was 100 years old when ISIS killed him. Abu Heraz was considered a local holy man and pilgrims from around the area came to visit him and receive blessings.

The second victim was identified as sheikh Said Abdel-Fattah, a top Waqf (Religious Endowment) cleric abducted a month ago.

The double execution generated an uproar and rage in the Egyptian media.

By: World Israel News Staff
AP contributed to this report

Share
Published by
Aryeh Savir
Tags: Egypt ISIS Islamic terror Sinai

Recent Posts

  • Jewish Diaspora & Antisemitism

Suspected hate crime: Chabad man stabbed in NYC

Orthodox Jewish man from the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement was stabbed in Manhattan's Diamond District in…

20 minutes ago
  • Source-WIN

Israel blasts Brad Lander over ‘calculated political provocation’

'This was not about harvesting olives. It was about harvesting headlines,' the Foreign Ministry said…

1 hour ago
  • Israel News

41% of IDF reservists suffering declining mental health since Oct 7 – study

New survey finds that more than two-thirds of IDF reservists have suffered career setbacks since…

2 hours ago
  • Analysis & Opinion

Tomb of Eleazar torched: The burning of Jewish holy sites demands more than condemnation

The burning of a biblical tomb in Samaria exposes a dangerous failure to protect Jewish…

2 hours ago
  • Middle East

Netanyahu: I ordered Iran to be overthrown, Trump didn’t block planned strike

Netanyahu said he instructed the IDF and Mossad to overthrow Iran's regime, denied reports that…

2 hours ago
  • Videos

WATCH: Muslim living in Israel takes to the streets to challenge anti-Israel narratives

A Muslim woman living in Israel spoke to the public, taking on anti-Israel claims with…

2 hours ago