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05/22/2008: "Israel not al-Qaida's primary concern?"

Osama bin Laden released a new audio message last week in which he termed the Palestinian issue the "core reason" for al-Qaida's war against the West, and a major impetus for the 9/11 attacks. This is the second time in less than six months that he has tried to put Israel center stage: In December, he issued an audiotape threatening to "expand our jihad" to Israel in order to "liberate Palestine, the whole of Palestine, from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea." Yet in reality, Israel has never been of much interest to al-Qaida. Thus it is crucial to understand what bin Laden seeks to achieve by pretending otherwise.

Yet to date, there has not been a single documented al-Qaida attack on Israel - even as the organization successfully staged attacks in countries as diverse as the United States, Kenya and Saudi Arabia, while helping allies stage additional attacks in countries from Indonesia to Spain. Given al-Qaida's track record, there is only one possible explanation for this failure: The group has never seriously tried to target Israel.

[ The article argues that al-Qaida only uses aggressive language against Israel for the purpose of recruiting more Muslims to the cause. ]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1211288137927&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull