Christian Post report– A new video released by the Islamic State, or ISIS, terror group shows captured Kurdish Peshmerga fighters being paraded in cages through the crowded streets of Iraq.

The propaganda video shows at least 21 Kurds wearing orange jumpsuits in cages on top of pickup trucks on Iraqi streets, according to CNN.

Most of the captured fighters say they are from the northern city of Kirkuk, and, apparently under duress, urge their fellow soldiers not to fight against ISIS, which is also known as ISIL.

“We say to the Peshmerga: Leave your jobs, or your fate will be like these, either the cage, or under the ground,” says a man in the video in Kurdish language.

The video, whose authenticity has not been verified, doesn’t show any execution, but the fate of the Kurds remains precarious given ISIS’ brutal tendency.

The Kurds are seen as pro-America, as they opposed Saddam Hussein’s regime and backed Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The video also carries footage of the recent beheadings of Egypt’s Coptic Christian in Libya.

In the previous video, the Christians were reportedly whispering the name of Jesus as their heads were being hacked off their bodies.

Meanwhile, Syrian Kurdish forces, backed by U.S.-led air strikes, advanced against ISIS militants in two separate attacks in northeastern Syria near the Iraqi border Sunday, according to Reuters.

ISIS, an al-Qaeda offshoot which seeks to form an Islamic emirate in the Levant region through “jihad,” has earlier released videos showing the beheading of five Western hostages since August – of British hostages David Haines and Alan Henning, and U.S. citizens James Foley, Steven Sotloff and Abdul-Rahman Kassig.

The U.S. military is leading airstrikes on ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria, and also has troops on the ground to train their Iraqi counterparts.

Source: Christian Post

The Blaze report–  A large group of Muslims made a powerful and symbolic gesture showing they want to protect Norway’s Jewish community, gathering hand-in-hand Saturday to form a “ring of peace” around a synagogue.

Muslim youths organized the peace vigil in solidarity with the Jewish community following deadly shootings at a free speech event and at a synagogue last weekend in neighboring Denmark.

The English-language website the Local reported that more than 1,000 Muslims and Jews formed a symbolic, defensive ring around Oslo’s main synagogue. Many of those who attended were teenage girls wearing headscarves.

The Times of Israel quoted an advertisement for the event that read: “Islam is about protecting our brothers and sisters, regardless of which religion they belong to. … Islam is about rising above hate and never sinking to the same level as the haters. Islam is about defending each other.”

Zeeshan Abdullah, 37, one of the organizers told those gathered, “We want to demonstrate that Jews and Muslims do not hate each other.”

“We do not want individuals to define what Islam is for the rest of us,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “This shows that there are many more peace-mongers than warmongers.”

“There is still hope for humanity, for peace and love across religious differences and background,” he said.

Norwegian Jewish community leader Ervin Kohn said the demonstration against anti-Semitism “fills us with hope” especially because “it’s a grassroots movement of young Muslims.”

Reflecting the ongoing threats against European Jews, the Local reported there was a heavy police presence at the event, including sharpshooters positioned on surrounding buildings. The event ended without incident.

The Local quoted other Muslim speakers who said Islam was a religion of peace and that its “true face” was not terrorism.

Police named Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, 22, a Danish citizen of Palestinian origin, as the shooter responsible for last Saturday’s attacks, in which two men were killed, including one guarding a Copenhagen synagogue.

Source: The Xblaze

Christian Today report–  Muslim religious teaching needs radical reform to stop the spread of extremism, according to the Grand Imam of Egypt’s prestigious al-Azhar University.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb told a conference organised by the Muslim World League in Meccca and attended by senior clerics from across the Muslim world that extremism had flourished because of a misreading of the Koran.

Al-Tayeb said there had been “a historical accumulation of excessive trends” that had led some people to embrace a misguided form of Islam.

One of the factors which has rendered Islamic State’s brand of ideology so toxic is its habit of pronouncing other Muslims as apostates. Al-Tayeb said: “The only hope for the Muslim nation to recover unity is to tackle in our schools and universities this tendency to accuse Muslims of being unbelievers.”

He referred to “terrorist groups… who have opted for savage and barbaric practices” without naming Islamic State specifically.

He blamed a “new global colonialism allied to world Zionism” for unrest in the region, which he said had exploited “confessional tension” in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya.

The conference heard from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, whose speech was read by the Governor of Mecca. The king described terrorism as “a scourge which is the product of extremist ideology” and as “a threat to our Muslim nation and to the entire world”.

It is not the first time the Grand Imam has condemned extremist ideology; in a significant intervention in December he spoke against fundamentalist readings of the Koran which spawned jihadi ideology. However, while he and al-Azhar University have enormous prestige in the Muslim world, hardcore Islamic State ideologues would dismiss him as speaking for the modernist interpretations of Islam which they reject outright.

Source: Christian Today