(JTA) — U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer met with King Abdullah II of Jordan and condemned the Islamic State’s killing of a captured Jordanian pilot.
Boxer (D-Calif.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met Tuesday in Washington with Abdullah hours after the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, released a video showing captive Jordanian fighter pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh being burned alive.
“This barbaric killing shows the world once again that ISIL’s brutality and cruelty knows no bounds,” said Boxer, who is Jewish. “The international community must stand together, united, in confronting this threat to civilized people everywhere. As Americans, we send our deepest condolences to the family of Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh, and our thoughts are with the people of Jordan.”
Kasasbeh was captured on Dec. 24 after his F-16 fighter plane crashed over northern Syria while participating in the U.S.-led coalition campaign against the Islamic State.
Amman confirmed that the video was authentic and announced that the pilot had been killed on Jan. 3, despite the fact that ISIS had offered to spare Kasasbeh’s life in exchange for the release of a female suicide bomber on death row in Jordan.
Jordan later announced that it would execute the bomber, Sajida al-Rishawi, who participated in a 2005 attack in Amman that killed 60 people, early Wednesday morning.
The video shows Kasasbeh in an orange prisoner jumpsuit doused in gasoline inside a cage, and then a black-masked terrorist lighting a trail of gas on the ground that leads to the cage. The images of Kasasbeh being burned alive are shown on the video.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Kasasbeh “brave, compassionate, and principled.”
“That he was murdered after his father’s plea for compassion reminds all the world that this foe has no agenda other than to kill and destroy, and places no value on life, including that of fellow Muslims,” Kerry said in a statement.
He said that “Arab pilots have flown with courage and skill along with their partners in a broad coalition.”
The release of the video came three days after ISIS claimed that it beheaded Japanese journalist Kenji Goto after last week killing Japanese aid worker Haruna Yukawa.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
