Diane Foley Forgives Her Son’s Killers After Ten Years

Diane Foley, a Christian mother, has forgiven the killers of her son after a decade has passed.

James Foley was a journalist who reported for Global Post and the French news agency. He was taken hostage by members of the ISIS group and, after months of torture and abuse, was killed on August 19, 2014, by the group in the hills south of the city of Raqqa in Syria. Muslim men who were roughly the same age as James and even spoke English, wearing black masks on their heads, recorded a video of James’s brutal execution.

Diane Foley, James’s mother, after ten years, published her memories following her son’s death. She told CBN News in an interview: “I feel that I have been challenged by God to share my experiences to help other families of hostages.”

Referring to her memories and her son, she said: “James was a very optimistic child. He was the kind of person who, whenever he did good to someone, expected similar treatment in return from the other side. I believe in a merciful God. Therefore, I think my faith has helped me to forgive others. I well knew that God did not kill him, but rather it was hatred, it was people. When we hate each other, our hatred enables us to do terrible things, and it was this same hatred that motivated ISIS extremists to massacre innocent people.”

Diane, while referring to the fact that the U.S. government gave her hope in the early days of James’s captivity that her son would soon be freed, continued: “After other Westerners were also taken hostage, I felt that preserving James’s life was no longer a priority for American officials.”

Diane Foley again referred to Hamas’s October 7 attacks and the pain and suffering that families endure for Israeli hostages, expressed her condolences with them, and added: “This hostage-taking has created terror on a massive scale, such that we are all witnessing its devastating dimensions. These destructive actions strengthen hatred for one another, the same hatred that caused that attack, and now revenge, which is truly heartbreaking.”

The image of James’s killing released on August 19 became one of the most memorable and striking images of the era. James, wearing an orange jumpsuit, kneeling in the desert, a man with his face completely covered by a black mask standing threateningly beside him holding a knife, and a camera recording James’s beheading.

Seven years later, in 2021, two former British citizens named “El-Shafee El-Sheikh,” 33, and “Kotey,” 38, members of the terrorist ISIS group, were tried and convicted in a U.S. court on charges of involvement in his killing. However, Diane, his mother, has now, after ten years, forgiven James’s killers.