WASHINGTON, JAN 14 (KUNA) — The US State Department described on Wednesday the call by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to wage a holy war against Israel because of the Gaza conflict as a “propaganda effort”.
“We have heard it. I think that is just another propaganda effort”, said State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack.
In an audiotape released today, bin Laden called for a holy war against Israel saying “the duty is to urge people to jihad and to enlist the youth into jihad brigades”.
“The fact that he releases it in the form that he does and with the message that he has, in which he criticizes Muslim clerics, he criticizes Israel, he criticizes the United States, he criticizes the president-elect – I am not sure there is anybody that he does not criticize, except for himself, which I take as a sign of his very real isolation”, added McCormack.
Israeli troops are now in their 19-day incursion into Gaza, the civilian death toll on the Palestinian side reached 1,000.
“I also take it as a sign that al-Qaeda has largely been driven from the heart of the Middle East…yet it is also an indication that al-Qaeda and bin Laden are still out there and that continued vigilance to protect against the threat that still exists is required”, noted McCormack.