Al Qaeda's Jihad Against Israel and Jews
Al Qaeda Renews Call For Attacks On Israel and Jews
Posted: April 3, 2008
Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri have renewed calls for attacks on Israel, Jews and American targets in response to the recent Israeli offensive in Gaza aimed at stopping rocket attacks launched from the territory.
On April 2, 2008, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's second in command, threatened Israel and Jewish interests in an audio message released by Al Sahab, Al Qaeda's media wing. Zawahiri endorsed "every operation against Jewish interests" and promised to "strive as much as we can to deal blows to the Jews inside Israel and outside it, with Allah's help and guidance." Zawahiri also said, "I expect the Jihadi influence to spread after the Americans' exit from Iraq, and to move towards Jerusalem."
Zawahiri released a similar audio message on March 24, 2008, entitled "Go Forth and Help Our People in Gaza." In his message, which was posted on Web sites commonly used by Islamic militants, Zawahiri urged his followers to attack "Israel and additional Western targets" as "revenge for Israel's aggressive policy in the Gaza Strip." Zawahiri also called on his followers to "strike the interests of the Jews, the Americans, and all those who participated in the attack on Muslims."
"Today there is no room for he who says that we should only fight the Jews in Palestine," Zawahiri added. "Let us strike their interests everywhere, just like they gathered against us from everywhere."
 Zawahiri's message followed a March 20, 2008, audio message from Osama bin Laden, who focused his speech on "the siege on Gaza and the way to free it and the rest of Palestine from the hands of the Zionist enemy." Bin Laden called on Palestinians to reject "negotiations and dialogue" and use "iron and fire" against Israel, as that alone "is the way to recover it because nothing cuts iron except iron."
"Palestine will return to us by the permission of Allah if we wake from our ignorance and holdfast to our religion and sacrifice for it our money and lives," bin Laden said.
The statements issued by bin Laden and Zawahiri in March are the latest in a series of messages by Al Qaeda focused on Israel and Jews since bin Laden's December 2007 video message, in which he similarly threatened attacks against Israel to "liberate Palestine." Bin Laden said, "We will not recognize a state for the Jews, not even one inch of the land of Palestine…"
In January, Adam Gadahn, an American Muslim convert who joined Al Qaeda in the late 1990s, issued a video statement saying, "The pivot on which the war today between the Muslims and their enemies revolve [is] Muslim Palestine, which will remain Muslim in spite of Bush and his puppets, in spite of racist tendencies of the Jewish occupiers and in spite of conspiracies like the Mecca Accord and the Annapolis Conference."
An essay posted on a militant Web site in January 2008 by an alleged Al Qaeda author "AsadAl-Jiahd2," entitled "The Timing of the Entrance of al-Qaeda Organization in the Palestinian Territories," explained that Al Qaeda has been preparing to attack Israel since the beginning of 2007 -- and they are continuing to get into position until 2009, when they will then begin to attack Israel. The essay also states that "the attacks against the Jews will not be limited to occupied Palestine but will continue to reach all the areas in which Jews have a strong influence."
In addition, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, purported leader of the Islamic State of Iraq which is composed of Al Qaeda in Iraq and other terrorist groups, issued an audiotaped statement in February 2008 calling for attacks on Israel. The statement proposed to use Iraq as a "launching pad" for missile attacks against Israel.
These threats against Israel and Jews by Al Qaeda come at a time when Hezbollah has also threatened to attack Israeli targets abroad.
While Al Qaeda has targeted Israel and Jews for several years, its leadership's renewed focus on the Palestinian cause in its public pronouncements should serve as an alert to the international community and Jewish interests around the world, and may suggest a wider attempt by Al Qaeda to destabilize the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the entire Middle East.
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