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On November 20, 2023, the Al-Sahab Foundation, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda's Central Command, released a new issue of its Al-Nafir periodic bulletin, titled "They Rush to Them for Protection" (Quran 5:52).[1] The two-page bulletin lashes out at Arab rulers, accusing them of supporting Israel's war against Hamas, and calling to kill "Zionists," massacre Israeli Jews, and force them to flee to Europe and America. Alleging that Arab and Muslim rulers are tools of the U.S. and Israel, the bulletin singles out the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority (PA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Turkey, urging Muslims to depose them and the people and army of Pakistan to attack the American ambassador. The foreign ministers of Qatar, the UAE, and Bahrain are also described as "Zionists."
An Urdu version of the bulletin was released on the same day, titled "The Rushing of Hypocrites."[2]
Arab Rulers Are Hypocrites Who Help U.S. Command Israel's War On Gaza
Comparing the stances taken by Arab rulers today – particularly those who met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in mid-October – to the "betrayal of the hypocrites" who saved the Jewish tribe of Banu Qaynuqa' from extermination by the Prophet Muhammad's army, the bulletin states that "the descendants of Ibn Saloul[3] rush to the sons of Zion to protect their entity and their lives […] The winds of apostasy, hypocrisy, and betrayal are blowing quickly like the winds of their ancestors blew on the day of the [battle] with Banu Qaynuqa'." The bulletin declares that the hypocrites of all eras "cannot be sincere in siding with the truth together with their ummah [Islamic nation], but rather waver between both sides," and lashes out at "the Arab Zionists [who] hurried to embrace and give condolences to the American Zionist Secretary of State, Blinken, who came to rebuke and scold them after they failed in their duty of giving advance warning and guarding their overlords in Israel, and to collect the Muslims' funds and resources to provide support for the Zionist-crusader war of extermination against the Muslims in Gaza."
Call To Kill "Zionists," Expel Israeli Jews To Europe And U.S.
Al-Qaeda Central declares that after the Israeli "massacres" in Gaza, including one in which hundreds were killed in a falsely alleged Israeli strike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital,[4] and the stabbing of a Palestinian-American boy in Chicago by an American man, "every one of us must undertake to kill every Zionist he encountered in his path," just as one of Muhammad's Companions killed a Jew from Banu Qaynuqa' who harassed a Muslim woman. Just as Ibn Saloul saved the Jewish tribe from slaughter and convinced Muhammad to expel them instead, his "descendants" are similarly protecting the Jewish state, while "our duty today is to kill them, and those of them who remain we will exile back to where they came from – to Europe and America."
The bulletin states that after Israel's declaration of war on Hamas, Muslims should follow the Quran's command (8:57): "If you ever encounter them in battle, make a fearsome example of them." According to the bulletin, the Quran teaches that "there can be no peace with Israel until Judgment Day. Restoring our normal relations with the Zionists must be according to the pattern which we saw from the heroes of Al-Aqsa Flood and their 'normalizing' with the Israelis using fire and blood."
Muslim Countries Are Dominated By U.S. And Israel, Their Rulers Must Be Deposed
Al-Nafir calls on all Muslims to "mobilize for jihad and warfare against those Zionist aggressors, and wage war on their allies who are called 'the presidents and rulers of the Muslims'," asserting that these rulers are not truly independent, as "everyone – presidents, kings, and nations – is under the rule of those unbelieving, sinful Zionists, to the extent that not one of the Muslims – with all their treacherous kings and presidents and their cowardly armies – can provide a drop of water, a pill of medicine, or a crust of bread to his brothers in Gaza from his land and [border] crossings."
The bulletin continues: "These apostate presidents and rulers are all slaves to Israel and America [...] They are their guard dogs and servants. They rush to protect them, not to attack them, because they are of their kind, not of us and you, and with them, not with us and you. The only way to defend Al-Aqsa and […] provide relief for our brothers in Gaza is through a flood that will eliminate these tyrant collaborators, the Arab Zionists, at their head the rulers of the 'Ring Countries [surrounding Israel],' like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon, and foremost among them the ruler of the Mukataa in Ramallah, the criminal Mahmoud Abbas, who is expected to come on the back of American tanks to play the role of [former Afghan President Hamid] Karzai in Gaza. We must not forget the Jew, grandson of Ibn Saloul, [Mohammed] bin Zayed, the Satan of the Arabs in our time, nor the deceiving traitor Erdoğan, whom we urge to recall the squadrons of Bayraktar drones which bomb our people in Somalia and Mali and send them to Gaza […] to bomb those he calls barbaric terrorists, instead of pressuring our brothers in Gaza to release the hostages of the sons of Zion […] If the ummah deposes these treacherous tyrants, it will be able to defend our brothers in stolen Palestine, and to free all the prisoners, the site of the Nighttime Journey [Jerusalem], and all Muslim countries. By Allah, this is a valuable opportunity for our ummah to relieve the suffering of our brothers in the prisons of the criminal [Egyptian President Abdel Fattah] El-Sisi, the Zionist [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed] bin Salman, and other prisons of the taghouts [un-Islamic rulers], so hurry, hurry!"
Call For Pakistanis To Attack U.S. Ambassador, Army To Fight "Americans, Zionists, And Their Allies"
Al-Qaeda Central issues a "special call to our people in Pakistan of jihad, sons of the brave tribes, Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan. May Allah reward you for your stand-ins and demonstrations in defense of your brothers in the site of your Prophet's Nighttime Journey, but the ummah expects more of you […] This is your opportunity to take revenge from those who displaced you, killed your children, and imprisoned your scholars and the best of your mujahideen, […] the Americans […] So hurry and defend your brothers and religion. Drag the American ambassador and those who protect him through the streets."
The bulletin continues: "To those belonging to the Pakistani army who still have a bit of bravery and manhood, this is your chance to return to your religion […] Direct your weapons at the enemy of the ummah, […] the Americans, Zionists, and their allies."
It concludes: "That two billion Muslims should wait on line to be slaughtered, while watching their brothers get slaughtered in Palestine, without mobilizing to save them and themselves, is the utmost cowardice and peak of abandonment."
The bottom of the bulletin shows the foreign ministers of Qatar, the UAE, and Bahrain embracing Blinken during his visits to their countries, captioning the three as "Zionists" and accusing them of "rushing to console the Zionist Blinken and provide him with money and weapons to wage war on our people in Palestine."
The last Al-Nafir bulletin by Al-Qaeda's Central Command was released in August 2023 and called on Muslims to abandon internal disputes and unite.[5]
Since Hamas' October 7 invasion of Israel and the ensuing outbreak of war, Al-Qaeda's Central Command has issued several statements and articles praising the attack and inciting attacks on Israel, Jews, and Western countries.[6]
[1] Telegram, November 20, 2023.
[2] Telegram, November 20, 2023.
[3] 'Abdallah ibn Ubayy ibn Saloul, considered the "leader of the hypocrites," was an Arab tribal leader who outwardly converted to Islam while remaining treacherous to the Muslims. Some modern-day Arabian rulers, particularly the Saudi royal family, are often accused by Salafi-jihadis of descent from Ibn Saloul.
[4] The Hamas-run Health Ministry claimed that over 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the hospital, although it later emerged that the hospital was hit by a failed rocket launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and that far fewer people died in the blast.
[5] See MEMRI JTTM Report: Bulletin By Al-Qaeda Central Command Calls On Supporters To Abandon Internal Disputes, Ignore Critics, August 16, 2023.
[6] See MEMRI JTTM Reports: Al-Qaeda General Command: Hamas Attack Is 'Major Shift In The Path Of Global Jihad'; 'The Coming Flood Of Islamic Heroes Will Make The Zionists And Crusaders Forget The Horrors' Of 9/11 And Will 'Shake The Ground Beneath The American Bases, Airports, And Embassies In Our Islamic Region'; 'Target The Crusader Battleships That Sail In The Seas Of The Muslims', October 14, 2023; Al-Qaeda Media Arm Releases Article Inciting Lone Wolf Attacks Against Embassies, Military Bases, Instructs Muslims To Make Bombs, Buy Drones To Show Support To Gazans, October 31, 2023; Praising Hamas Attack On Israel, Al-Qaeda Essay Accuses U.S., European Leaders Of Inciting Against Palestinians To Serve 'Jewish Lobby'; Calls To Storm Israel's Borders To 'End Jewish Presence In Region,' Target Jewish And Western Interests, November 1, 2023; Al-Qaeda Releases Article Urging Islamic Scholars To Deem Jihad Against Israel As A Muslim Obligation, Praises Egypt's Al-Azhar 'Call On Muslims To Follow Footsteps Of Mujahideen', November 2, 2023; and Al-Qaeda General Command Calls For Attacks Against Jews In West, Attacks Resembling 2012 Benghazi Attack, Million-Man Marches To Storm American, European Military Bases In Region, Expel 'Killers' Of Gazans, November 18, 2023.
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