Watch: New ISIS Video Demands $200M Ransom For Japanese Prisoners


What originally was intended as a gesture of goodwill from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who on Saturday pledged $200 million in aid for countries battling ISIS, seems to have given members of the brutal international terror group the wrong idea.

newISISvid
Image courtesy of LiveLeak.com

In a new video released on Tuesday, a man recently tabbed “Jihadi John” is believed to be the masked man standing between two kneeling Japanese prisoners donning orange jumpsuits. In the video, “Jihadi John” brandishes a knife while making the $200 million proposition for the safe release of the two men. He also gave a 72-hour deadline, which presumably began after the video was released.

While the identities of the two men were not immediately released by the Japanese government, they have since confirmed reports made by The Japan Times that the two men are Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa. According to AP reports and multiple other sources, AOL and NBC included, Goto is an esteemed freelance journalist who traveled to Syria to report on the civil war currently being waged in the country. Yukawa seemed to be in the area with different motivations; The Japan Times also reported that Yukawa is a private security contractor who had joined with a handful of rebel resistance forces to combat ISIS. However, he was captured in early August of last year during a firefight with ISIS militants.

Although Abe has previously said he wants to strengthen Japan’s military persona, aspiring to make them more of a legitimate deterrent to this exact type of threat against the country, they still remain relatively incapable of the type of undertaking it would be to rescue the two men. Currently, Japanese officials are weighing their options between making some sort of payment to the terror group or enlisting the help of allied nations such as the United States to perform a rescue mission.

By now, most of us have come to the realization that ISIS isn’t to be trifled with; they’ve come through on their word multiple times and should be expected to do so again. The media saturated the public with coverage on James Foley, the American journalist beheaded along with Steven Sotloff earlier in 2014. It’s almost undeniable at this point that ISIS knows they won’t get the ransom money, but money can’t buy the type of publicity they continue to get.


How this matter gets resolved is unclear, but the prospect of if it will be resolved at all becomes more frightening by the minute. Many terrorism scholars have come around to the conclusion that the more ISIS is bastardized by Western media, the easier it is for the group to recruit new members. I’m not qualified to proclaim that this is right or wrong, but it’s worth considering. The fact that ISIS has become a household name here in the States lends itself to this conclusion: they’ve been able to manipulate the Western media narrative with a fair amount of success.

 

Ben Dunham-Kapaldo is a 22-year old senior attending college in Upstate New York. Originally from a small town in Maine, he began his secondary education as a football player in college first and a student in college second. After realizing that wasn't a recipe for success, Ben straightened out his priorities and was recently named to the school's Fall 2014 Dean's List. For the past two years, Ben has contributed articles for the school newspaper and was promoted to an editorial position for the 2014-2015 academic year. After graduation he hopes to work in the research division of an advertising firm or become a full-time journalist.