Before getting to the answer to the question posed in the title, notice what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t state that ISIS will no longer be executing Christians and other infidels. (In fact, according to one source, the group most decidedly will continue its acts of depravity, which it views “as the application of the rule of God.”) The headline doesn’t say either that the terrorist organization will stop making videos of the executions, which conceivably it might continue to do for its own perverse amusement.
As for why it will no longer be distributing the videos over the interent, the Daily Mail reports that ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is worried about the group’s image.
Al-Baghdadi is said to have sent a letter to all of his media offices saying they were no longer allowed to show graphic, violent scenes in their carefully edited videos, which caught the attention of the wider world with the emergence of ‘Jihadi John’ in 2014.
He is said to have claimed the decision was based on not offending other Muslims, who might think the videos are scary for children.
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Some agree the videos, which often show people being put to death in horrific ways, including being drowned in cages, thrown off buildings and blowing people up, are not good for the image of the so-called caliphate.
But not everyone in the organization is happy with that decision. Some argue that the “common folk,” meaning fellow Muslims, are not the intended audience. The barbaric clips, these militants submit, are an effective tool for intimidating its opponents in the West.
