Al Qaeda 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 Mideast over the Gaza offensive.
Bin Laden spoke in an audiotape posted on Wednesday on Islamic militant Web sites where al-Qaeda usually issues its messages. It was his first tape since May and came nearly three weeks after Israel started its campaign against Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers.
"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, entitled Call for jihad to stop the aggression on Gaza, referring to the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
"Muslim 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 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.
