Bay Area Jordanians plan vigil for executed pilot

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - The ISIS video that showed Jordanian pilot Lt. Moath Al-Kasasbeh burned alive shocked the world and was also felt strongly among Bay Area residents of Jordanian decent.

"It feels personal," said Samar Quaqish, "it felt really personal when James Foley died as well as an American and it feels personal when Moath died as a Jordanian."

Quaqish and her fellow members of the Jordanian American Association (JAA) met at their South San Francisco headquarters Friday evening to plan for a candlelight vigil to take place the following night.

"It was really a shock. Especially the way he died," said JAA president Eyad Ibrahin.

He says people in his community were in tears when they learned of Al-Kasasbeh's execution.

Prior to the release of the video, there had been much debate in Jordan about that country's involvement in the coalition war against ISIS.

"If anything good came out of this, it united us," said Ibrahin, "We put everything, all of our differences aside."

Ibrahin says roughly 15,000 people of Jordanian decent live in the Bay Area.

The organization expects at least 500 people to attend the vigil at their headquarters at 305 Linden Avenue in South San Francisco on February 7th between 7-9 p.m.