‘Hate is not for humans’: slain Japanese journalist Kenji Goto’s poignant tweet goes viral
Kenji Goto's poignant 2010 tweet about patience goes viral, in tribute to slain hostage
Kenji Goto’s words, now more than four years old, have taken on a new poignancy.
“Closing my eyes and holding still. It’s the end if I get mad or scream. It’s close to a prayer. Hate is not for humans. Judgment lies with God. That’s what I learned from my Arabic brothers and sisters.”
That Japanese-language tweet from September 7, 2010, has been embraced by social media users as a fitting memorial to the 47-year-old freelance journalist. It had 24,000 retweets by Tuesday, and was being repeated by others by the minute.
Early Sunday, news emerged that Goto had been killed by extremists of the Islamic State group after efforts to secure his release from months of captivity failed. His reported death followed that of another Japanese hostage, adventurer Haruna Yukawa, who was also being held by the militants. Goto had returned to Syria in a vain attempt to secure the release of his friend, Yukawa.
The Twitter account was verified as Goto’s by his friend, Toshi Maeda, who heads Tokyo-based venture Pacific Bridge, which created the mobile-video application Goto used for some of his reports from Syria.