Bin Laden message urges jihad against Israel

AL-QAIDA chief Osama bin Laden urged Muslims to launch a jihad against Israel and condemned Arab governments as allies of the Jewish state in a new message aimed at harnessing anger in the Middle East over the Gaza offensive.

Bin Laden spoke in an audiotape posted yesterday on Islamic militant websites where al-Qaida usually issues its messages. It was his first tape since May. The al-Qaida leader also vowed that the terror network would open “new fronts” against the United States and its allies beyond Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said president-elect Barack Obama has received a “heavy inheritance” from George W Bush — two wars and “the collapse of the economy”, which he said will render the US unable to sustain a long fight against mujahedeen — or holy warriors.

“There is only one strong way to bring the return of Al-Aqsa and Palestine, and that is jihad in the path of God,” bin Laden said in the 22-minute audiotape, referring to the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. “The duty is to urge people to jihad and to enlist the youth into jihad brigades.”

“Islamic nation, you are capable of defeating the Zionist entity with your popular capabilities and your great hidden strength — without the support of [Arab] leaders and despite the fact that most of [the leaders] stand in the barracks of the Crusader-Zionist alliance,” bin Laden said.

The authenticity of the tape could not be independently confirmed, but the voice resembled that of bin Laden in previous messages.

The tape, entitled “a call for jihad to stop the aggression on Gaza”, was played over a still picture of bin Laden and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, one of Islam’s holiest sites.