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Al-Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
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| By israelinsider staff April 30, 2007 |
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In a video posted on a jihadist website on the internet Sunday, an al-Qaeda leader called on the terrorist group Hamas to fight Israel with "bombs and fire," Ynetnews reported.
The leader, Abu Yahya al-Libi, demanded in the video, "Where is revenge, where are the bombs, where is the fire?
"Your loyalty to the blood of your predecessors, those loyal men, can only be through strict commitment to path of jihad ... And rejecting any other way," he continued in the video.
Al-Qaeda's campaign of terrorism is focused mainly against the United States and its allies in Europe and it criticizes Sunni Hamas for being too moderate and compromising Palestinians' rights for the sake of politics. Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006.
Al-Libi, who is thought to have escaped from a US jail in Afghanistan in 2005, said it was al-Qaeda's responsibility to give Hamas guidance.
Al-Libi reprimanded Hamas leaders for adopting democracy and forming diplomatic relationships with "infidel" Russia and Shiite Iran.
"Nationalism and Palestinian unity became the ground of your relations ... Tarnishing your group," al-Libi said in the video. "Those listening to your statements can no longer differentiate between you and secular groups."
The video also slams Hamas officials for visiting Russia and Iran and "begging" for support in ending the boycott on their government due to Hamas' refusal to comply with international demands, including its refusal to recognize Israel.
Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, last month accused Hamas of being a puppet of the United States by signing onto a unity government agreement with the secular group Fatah.
According to the IDF, between November 2000 and April 2004, Hamas carried out 425 suicide attacks against Israel, killing close to 400 Israelis and wounding over 2,000. Since 2002, Hamas' Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades has fired Kassam rockets into Israel, hitting towns such as Sderot, in the Negev. |
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