Japan condemns 'despicable' IS hostage beheading claim

Yahoo – AFP, Kyoko Hasegawa, 1 Feb 2015

People walk past a big screen reporting that a Japanese hostage was killed by

the Islamic State in Tokyo on February 1, 2015 (AFP Photo/Toru Yamanaka)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday denounced as "heinous and despicable" the apparent beheading of a second Japanese hostage by the Islamic State group, as global leaders denounced the jihadists.

IS claimed in a video released online Saturday that it had killed 47-year-old Kenji Goto -- the second beheading of a Japanese hostage in a week -- but made no mention of a captured Jordanian pilot it had also threatened to kill.

Jordan "will do everything it can" to save the pilot's life and secure his release, government spokesman Mohammed al-Momeni told the official Petra news agency in Amman.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) 

talks during a ministerial meeting on an

 online video purportedly showing a

Japanese hostage being killed by the

Islamic State, on February 1, 2015 at his

official residence in Tokyo (AFP Photo/

Kimimasa Mayama)

Goto, a respected war correspondent, is seen in an orange outfit -- similar to those worn by Guantanamo Bay inmates -- kneeling next to a standing masked man dressed head-to-toe in black with his face covered.

The man, who speaks with a British accent, appears to be the same IS militant who has featured in previous execution videos.

He directly addresses Abe, saying the killing was the result of "reckless" decisions by the Japanese government -- a possible reference to aid money that Tokyo gave to help refugees fleeing IS-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq -- and would mark the beginning of a "nightmare for Japan".

The brief video, whose content has not been verified, ends with the image of a body and a decapitated head on top of it.

"After an extensive review, we believe it's highly probable" the video is authentic, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

Japan's premier, who appeared on the verge of tears, pledged not to back down and said his government would increase humanitarian aid to the Middle East.

"I am extremely angry about these heinous and despicable terrorist acts. We will never forgive terrorists," he told a crush of reporters at his office.

"We will cooperate with the international community to make them atone for their crimes."

'Chills down my spine'

"I can't find the words to describe how I feel about my son's very sad death," a sobbing Junko Ishido, Goto's mother, told reporters.

Distraught Junko Ishido (R), mother of Kenji Goto, speaks to reporters while her 

husband Yukio Ishido (L) stands beside her at their home in Tokyo on February 1, 2015

(AFP Photo/Kazuhiro Nogi)

His brother Junichi Goto said he had been holding out hope, "but that's not possible any more".

Officially pacifist Japan has long avoided getting embroiled in Middle East conflicts and is rarely the target of religious extremism. So the hostage crisis has been especially shocking for the country.

Many braved Tokyo's chilly streets to pick up the Yomiuri newspaper's special supplement about the Goto video.

"It's scary -- they (the militants) are saying they'll target Japanese people now," said 21-year-old university student Kyosuke Kamogawa.

"That sends chills down my spine."

US President Barack Obama led international condemnation of the "heinous murder".

Two women read an extra edition

newspaper reporting the killing of

Japanese hostage Kenji Goto in Tokyo

on February 1, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Yoshikazu Tsuno)

"Through his reporting, Mr Goto courageously sought to convey the plight of the Syrian people to the outside world," Obama said.

A spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the "barbaric murder... underscores the violence that so many have been subjected to in Iraq and Syria".

Paris and London also denounced the video, with British Prime Minister David Cameron saying it was "a further reminder that (IS) is the embodiment of evil, with no regard for human life".

The militant group has imposed a brutal version of Islamic law in territory it controls in Syria and Iraq. It has murdered both locals and foreigners, including two US journalists, an American aid worker and two British aid workers.

The latest video came after Japan, which had leaned heavily on key regional ally Jordan for help, said negotiations to win Goto's release in a prisoner exchange had stalled.

IS had vowed to kill Goto and Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh by sunset Thursday unless Amman handed over an Iraqi female jihadist who is on death row for her part in bombings in the capital that killed 60 people in 2005.

"The government has been working with the utmost efforts on the issue -- I deeply regret that this is the result," Abe said.

But "Japan will never yield to terrorism... (and) is firmly resolved to fulfil its responsibility in the international community's fight against terrorism".

'Proof of life'

Last week IS claimed responsibility for the beheading of another hostage, self-described contractor Haruna Yukawa, after the expiration of a 72-hour deadline during which it had asked Tokyo to pay a $200 million ransom.

Friends and relatives of Jordanian air force

 pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh -- who was 

captured by Islamic State militants after

his plane crashed in Syria on December 24

-- protest near the Prime Minister's office in

Amman, on January 27, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Khalil Mazraawi)

It was the same sum that Tokyo had pledged to the region in non-military aid.

Jordan has demanded evidence that its pilot, who crashed in Syria on December 24, was still alive before freeing would-be suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi.

The pilot's father Safi Kassasbeh begged Amman to save his son's life "at any price".

Goto's wife Rinko broke her silence last week to plead for her husband's return.

The couple had a second child just weeks before Goto left for Syria late last year, in a bid to find his friend Yukawa. He was later captured himself.

Diplomats from the Council of Arab Ambassadors to Japan were to meet Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida later Sunday.

The Council "deplores that such a barbaric act was committed...in the name of Islam", it said in a statement.

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World leaders condemns IS beheading of Japanese journalist Goto

"2015" (3) - Jan 10/11, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. Do Not Despair

There's too much information to give you in one channelling, in one sitting, so I refer to past messages for you to better understand and reference the information in order to get the bigger picture. So I wish to remind you of something I also told you in a recent channelling called Do Not Despair. You're winning! It's because you're winning that the dark consciousness on this planet is feeling it, and the humanity that represents darkness is pulling out everything it has to survive.

It Has Always Been There

Let's look at it, because it's all over the news. Are you shocked at the sudden existence of the organization that will remain unnamed [for this channelling]? Where did it come from? How could it be so organized? How could it be so well funded? This organization could have its own country soon! They might as well name it, “The Old Energy Dark Country”, for that's what it will represent.

The barbaric past of humanity comes forward to show its face. It has always been there, hiding under the rocks and between the cracks of civilized humanity. It couldn't show itself until now, but now it has to. It's ugly and it's not for the faint at heart, is it, dear ones? Seeing evil personified in Human action is abhorrent. It is so ugly and so dark that you cannot look upon it with a gentle heart. God is not a part of it and this is obvious.

You're winning! Light is winning! The uprising of dark consciousness would not have shown itself with this strength, or this quickly, if this were not so. This is exactly what I told you to look for, and it is proof that those representing this dark consciousness are in trouble. Dear ones, dark consciousness has always had a tried-and-true system. It lurks in the shadows and influences all the power places of the planet - government, commerce, finance. Suddenly, it can't hide there as well anymore and it's out in the open.

Where is the funding coming from? It is coming from a storehouse that has always been there, dear ones. It uses income that has been generated from low consciousness acts, collected for a very long time. Funding didn't just appear. It has been stored, waiting to be used in order to spread fear and darkness to save what they believe is their way.

Who Will Win?

Dear ones, they haven't got a chance! But it looks like they do, doesn't it? Everything that they are doing is calculated to scare you into submission. Are they winning? Now, that's a question I want you to take from here and examine every day.

Fear is black. If you're in fear, there is no light. You can be the grandest Lightworker, or even be the channeller, but if you're in fear, it doesn't matter how many years you've done light work, or how much light you've accumulated personally. It all goes away with fear, and then they've won the battle for your mind. Do you understand this?

The Strength of the Old Soul - YOU

Old souls, Lightworkers reading this, the experiences you have had over lifetimes and lifetimes are incredible! The old soul knows fear. I don't want to be too graphic, but I want you to understand! What was it like when you put your head in the guillotine because you talked about God in a way that was inappropriate? What was it like to be bound hand and foot when they lit the match at your feet? Old soul, that's fear! You carry those experiences in your Akash.

I want to tell you they haven't got a chance to scare you! You absolutely know what fear is, and they haven't got a chance as long as you cling to that part of you that is the strength of God. You've been through it all. That means you've got the weapons of truth, wisdom and light. Don't forget it. Don't forget who you are!

Do you see how fast they assembled? It seemed like only yesterday that there was no organization at all. Where did they come from? Have you noticed a certain hesitancy to fight them? Why is it that the citizens of the lands that they are invading are hesitant to fight them? Instead, these leaders are calling on others to help. Why is it that the others are also hesitant? I want to show you that there are some anomalies of logic that are not making sense, because this is a battle you have never seen before on this planet. We've expected it, but you haven't. It's about consciousness, not land or resources.

How to Win?

We gave you the secret before of how to defeat them without taking even one life: Simply take away their funding. They cannot exist without their funding. The funding has to be organized, stored, and distributed. It has to be generated in such a way that it must also go through institutions. Did you hear that? All you have to do is stop the system. Winning won't be done with bombing. It's going to be done with intelligence, clever thinking and financial forensics. It's time to get smart on some of these things and not to be afraid to look at this puzzle differently than you have before. Do not apply the energy they are using in order to fight them, because you won't win. Figure it out. It's the last bastion of organized darkness and evil thinking on this planet coming together to try to survive the assault of your light. Don't be afraid to look at the funding trail, no matter where it takes you.

Fear is Their Weapon

I want you to know something as you look at your news. It may appear that you are unable to stop them. In many places, they will gain strength as they create fear. The fear is easily created in those who are not old souls and who don't know fear like you do and who don't have the armor of your spiritual experiences. This puts you in the front line, dear one. Did you realize that? But you don't have to go fight them on their terms. All you have to do is broadcast light. High consciousness will beat fear any day.. .”