The leader of al-Qaeda's in Iraq called in a new posting on a Web site on Thursday for attacks on Israel and proposed that Iraq's territory be a "launching pad" to liberate Jerusalem. In the 30-minute audiotape, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head the Islamic State of Iraq, slammed Arab and Palestinian groups, especially Hamas, for failing to liberate the Palestinians. He also called on Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, to break away from the group's political leadership and liberate Jerusalem.
Thursday's audiotape was distributed by al-Furqan, one of al-Qaeda's media production wings and posted on more than one Islamic Web site that usually carry militant statements.
In the latest audiotape, al-Baghdadi also threatened other Palestinians, saying that jihad makes "no distinctions between the infidel Jews and the renegade Palestinians ... between (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert and his criminals and (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas and his gang." He called the state of Israel a "wicked germ sown in the (Palestinian) nation's body which should be uprooted, even if the traitors signed thousands of surrender treaties."
Much of the audiotape was devoted to threats against Hamas political leaders "who betrayed the nation and turned against the blood of the martyrs," al-Baghdadi said, also adding that Hamas has been pressuring its military wing not to stage rocket attacks on Israel but to accept a truce. Al-Baghdadi called for "opening new fronts to ease the American and Jewish pressure off the Palestinians while bolstering the fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan." He urged every "working Muslim to spare 2 dollars a month, half of it would go to our Palestinian brothers and the other half to finance other fronts."
As for attacks on Israel, al-Baghdadi said the "Islamic state in Iraq will be the cornerstone for the return of Al-Quds" and added the group was trying to use Iraq's western province of al-Anbar as a launching pad for missiles against Israel. "The Jews and the Americans have realized this and tried by all means to prevent us from achieving this target including the fierce campaign on al-Anbar, knowing that it is easy to fire missiles on Israel from some parts there," al-Baghdadi said.
