Herve Gourdel Beheaded by Jihadists

French hostage Herve Pierre Gourdel has been beheaded by a jihadist group that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Meanwhile, Western politicians and the media will respond to the beheading by defending the ideology that promotes such beheadings.

(CNN)—French hostage Herve Gourdel was abducted and beheaded, a killing shown on video, French President Francois Hollande told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

"You will understand that today I am speaking before you with a particularly high level of emotion because one of my compatriots has just been subject of a cowardly assassination," Hollande said. "He was a man who was full enthusiasm. He loved the mountains. He thought he would be able to pursue his passion moving into the Ouzou area in Algeria."

Hollande said the attack won't affect France's role in the battle against terrorism.

"France will never give in to blackmail, to pressure, to barbaric acts. Quite to the contrary, France knows what is expected," Hollande said.

Earlier, Hollande expressed his condolences to Gourdel's family in a news conference at the French mission.

Gourdel was kidnapped over the weekend in Algeria's Tizi Ouzou region east of Algiers, the French Foreign Ministry said. The video was posted online Wednesday. It shows armed men who claim to belong to Islamist militant group Jund al-Khilafa -- or Soldiers of the Caliphate -- in Algeria. They pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. (Continue Reading.)

For more on jihad, watch this:

French Hostage Herve Pierre Gourdel to Be Executed unless France Ends Airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS)

***UPDATE*** Gourdel has been beheaded.

ORIGINAL POST:

Jihadists in completely different parts of the world are now taking orders from the Islamic State (ISIS). In response to a recent ISIS call to take hostages, the terrorist group Jund al-Khilifa kidnapped Frenchman Herve Pierre Gourdel in Algeria. Gourdel is set to be executed in 24 hours unless France ceases airstrikes against ISIS.

I have a sinking feeling that our government's only response will be to defend Islam.

Telegraph—An Algerian group linked to Islamic State jihadists has threatened to kill a French hostage within 24 hours unless Paris halts air strikes on the IS in Iraq in a video released on Monday evening.

Jund al-Khilifa (Soldiers of the Caliphate), which has pledged allegiance to IS, said in the video that it carried out a kidnapping on Sunday of a Frenchman in a mountainous region of eastern Algeria.

The hostage, Herve Pierre Gourdel, white-haired and bespectacled, is shown squatting on the ground flanked by two hooded men clutching Kalashnikov assault rifles.

"It is up to Hollande, president of the criminal French state, to halt the attacks on the Islamic State within 24 hours of this statement, otherwise his national Herve Gourdel will have his throat slit," one of his kidnappers says in the video.

Gourdel said in the video he is a native of Nice in southern France who works as a mountain guide, and that he only arrived in Algeria on Saturday. He was seized while hiking with Algerian friends.

In the video, the kidnappers said they are responding to a call from IS, posted just hours earlier, for Muslims to kill citizens of countries taking part in the US-led coalition against the jihadists who have seized of large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

"If you can kill a disbelieving American or European - especially the spiteful and filthy French - or an Australian, or a Canadian or any other disbeliever... including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him," said IS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani.

"Kill the disbeliever whether he is civilian or military," he said in the message, which was released in multiple languages. (Continue Reading.)

For a brief introduction to Islam's teachings about non-Muslims, watch this: