The father of an Israeli Arab indicated that he would fight alongside Israel to take out the terror group known as ISIS, which executed his son for being an alleged "Israeli spy."
Veteran bus driver Said Musallam, the father of the late 19-year-old Mohamed Ismail Musallam, told Daniel K. Eisenbud of Jerusalem Post that his son was deceived by the promises of ISIS. He argued that the terror group conned his son, who was executed by a boy brandishing a pistol with another militant observing the event.
"I understood from my son that Islamic State lied to him," Musallam said.
Mohamed's older brother, 29-year-old Ahmad Musallam, elaborated to Eisenbud on how the Israeli Arab learned about ISIS.
"Muhammad learned about Islamic State on Facebook," Ahmad said. "They said they'd give him money, a car, a house, a girl. He decided to go to Syria in October to join them."
Ahmad then noted to Eisenbud that his brother wanted to go back to Israel after realizing that none of the promises made by ISIS came true. He also denied that his brother worked for Israeli intelligence.
"He was very sad and wanted to come back," Ahmad said. "When they [Islamic State] saw he had become afraid and wanted to come home, they became suspicious and claimed he was a spy. The story about the Mossad is not true."
According to Eisenbud, Musallam held the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, responsible for his son's death and had some harsh words for him.
"I will sacrifice myself and my three other sons to go to war and fight against Islamic State with Israel," Musallam said. "The leader of Islamic State will die the way my son died. His death is coming."
According to Eisenbud, Musallam thought his son was executed because he knew too much about the group's operations and logistics.
"Muhammad was knowledgeable about Islamic State - the maps, territories, locations, everything," he said. "The reason Islamic State was scared was because if he came back to Israel, he could tell the Mossad the information and destroy them because he knew everything."
Eisenbud reported that even though his son joined ISIS and ended up regretting his decision, Musallam emphasized that his family continue to stand by Israel.
"My loyalty is to Israel, because my family lives in Jewish neighborhoods and no one gives us any trouble or complications," Musallam said. "We believe that we are family. We have the same father, Abraham."
As for the man and boy associated with ISIS in the video, the Associated Press reported that they have been identified by France's intelligence services as French citizens. Investigators are also wondering if the man had any ties to an extremist who attacked a Jewish school in France back in 2012.
"The man in the video, released late Tuesday, speaks with a southern French accent and investigators are probing if he could be the step-brother of Mohammed Merah, who killed seven people in attacks on a Jewish school and paratroopers in the south of France beginning on March 11, 2012 - exactly three years ago," the Associated Press wrote.
According to the Associated Press, ISIS seemed to turn the focus on training foreign children, including the boy shown in its latest execution video.
"Here are the young lions of the caliphate," the man said in the video before the execution took place.
The Associated Press reported that White House spokesman Josh Earnest condemned the latest killing as an "abhorrent and unjustifiable action," adding that ISIS had a "disregard for all human decency."
"That is an indication that we're continuing to apply pressure to ISIL in a way that is actually succeeding in degrading their ability to wreak havoc in that part of the world," Earnest said.
