NEW YORK (TIP): The beheading of Steven J. Sotloff, the American journalist from Miami who had been held hostage by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, suddenly loomed larger for many Israelis on Wednesday, September 3, when it emerged that he held Israeli citizenship and had lived and studied in the country for a few years. Sotloff’s family broke a yearlong media blackout about his case two weeks ago after he appeared in an Internet video in which a black-clad, knife-wielding militant of the extremist group marked him as the next hostage to die after the American journalist James Foley.

Yet the Israeli connection was kept well hidden. As long as there was a chance Sotloff was still alive there was fear that exposure of his Jewish roots and Israeli past could put him in further danger. As a freelance reporter, Mr. Sotloff contributed to the Israel-based Jerusalem Report magazine along with Western publications like Time magazine, The Christian Science Monitor and World Affairs Journal. ISIS terrorists released a video Tuesday that claimed to show the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff.

In the gruesome footage, titled “A second message to America,” Sotloff can be seen kneeling in orange garb in front of his black-masked executioner after news footage of President Obama talking tough about the Syrian terror group. Sotloff, with his hands tied behind his back, stoically tells the camera that he is “paying the price” for US intervention in Syria. “Obama, your foreign policy of intervention in Iraq was supposed to be for the preservation of American lives and interests.

So why is it that I have to pay the price of your interference with my life? Am I not an American citizen?” Steven said. The killer of Steven then said, “I’m back, Obama, and I’m back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State. “Just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.” As Sotloff struggles and tries to stand, his killer starts to slit his throat.

The camera cuts out to black, then footage shows what appears to be Sotloff’s severed head placed on his stomach. The terrorist said a British captive, David Cawthorne Haines, would be the next. Footage of Haines, believed to be a security worker for humanitarian-aid groups, was shown in the same kneeling position as Foley and Sotloff before their executions.