NEFA Foundation: New Bin Laden Audio - “A Call for Jihad to Stop the Gaza Assault”
By Evan Kohlmann
The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new Arabic-language audio recording of Al-Qaida leader Usama Bin Laden titled, "A Call for Jihad to Stop the Gaza Assault." During the recording, Bin Laden called upon Muslims around the world "to mobilize the youth into jihadi fighting units in the cause of Allah against the Zionist-Crusader alliance and their agents in the region—and not to waste the energy of the youth in street demonstrations without carrying any weapons." Bin Laden blamed the Israeli invasion of Gaza on the sagging U.S. economy: "Today, the U.S. is staggering under the attacks of the mujahideen and their consequences. [It is suffering from] a human, political, and financial drain. It is drowning in a financial crisis, so much so that it is begging from big and small countries alike. Now, its enemies are no longer in fear of it and its friends have no respect for it... The dramatic and rapid decline of U.S. power was one of the important motivations for the Israelis to launch this brutal attack on Gaza, in a desperate attempt to make use of the last days of the two terms of Bush and the neoconservatives."
During his address, Bin Laden also demanded that faithful Muslims contribute financing to help support jihadi operations: "the religious donations of a single prominent Muslim businessman are enough to cover the entire expenses of jihad on all active frontlines with our enemies today… I know that greed does not prevent many of the Muslim merchants from spending money in the cause of Allah, but rather they are prevented by their fear of the United States and its agents in the region... Can one not find a place to hide somewhere? Is the land of Allah not vast enough to carry out the religious duty of financial jihad?"
An English translation of Bin Laden's address can be downloaded from the NEFA Foundation website.
