TEL AVIV, September 4 (RIA Novosti) – Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon has officially outlawed the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group from Israel, whose militants were responsible for the decapitatation of US journalist Steven Sotloff who also held Israeli citizenship.
The declaration banning the Islamic State, signed by Ya'alon on Wednesday, gives Israeli officials the right to take legal action against the organization and its followers and to stop anyone from raising funds to support the Islamic State. It bans meetings of any kind between Islamic state members.
Another decree, signed by Ya'alon on the same day, outlaws the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a Sunni Islamist militant group affiliated with al-Qaeda. According to media reports, Abdullah Azzam Brigades, has accepted responsibility for rocket attacks on Israel
On Wednesday, the United States confirmed the authenticity of the video, showing the killing of US journalist Steven Sotloff, and Israel stated that the journalist also had the Israeli citizenship.
Steven Sotloff went missing in Syria in August 2013. On September 2, Islamic State militants uploaded a video showing his killing by a masked man. Previously, the Sunni Islamist militant group threatened to kill Sotloff, when it released a video of the murder of another US journalist, James Foley.
The Islamic State is a Sunni group that was involved in fighting the government forces in Syria before launching an offensive in Iraq in June. Later that month, the group announced the establishment of an Islamic caliphate on the territories that had fallen under its control.
