Osama bin Laden urged Muslims to launch a jihad against Israel
in a new audiotape.

“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 Mideast over the Gaza
offensive.

Bin Laden spoke in an audiotape posted Wednesday on Islamic militant
Web sites where al-Qaida 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.

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 United States unable to sustain
a long fight against the 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.”

“It was the first time bin Laden have spoken of Obama”

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