On September 11, 2021, Al-Qaeda's central media wing released a 60-minute video featuring the group's top leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who is rumored to have died. The new video provided fairly recent proof of life, but barely mentioned the anniversary of 9/11. Speaking about the campaign "Jerusalem Will Never Be Judaized," which was launched by the group following then-President Trump's decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Al-Zawahiri described it as the most powerful response to "the plots of the despicable servants of Israel." Touching upon the 9/11 attacks, Al-Zawahiri praised the role of the "nineteen Mujahideen, the warriors of Islam, [who] stabbed America in its heart, [causing] an injury the like of which America had never tasted before." He added: "And today [the U.S.] is making its exit from Afghanistan, broken, defeated, after twenty years of war."
To view the clip of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri on MEMRI TV, click here or below.
Ayman Al-Zawahiri: "To begin with, I would like to congratulate the Muslim ummah on the successful continuation of the campaign 'Jerusalem shall not be Judaized.' May Allah greatly reward the valiant heroes of Jihad in the front lines of jihad in East and West Africa on the heroics that they have recorded as part of these blessed operations. This series of operations, with the help of Allah, shall prove to be the most defiant response to the plots of the despicable servants of Israel.
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"Oh Muslim! Participate in this campaign. Take Jerusalem's revenge from the Zionist occupiers and those who created them in the first place and provided them support.
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"And let us not forget that nineteen mujahideen, the warriors of Islam, stabbed America in its heart... an injury the like of which America had never tasted before... and today [the U.S.] is making its exist from Afghanistan, broken, defeated, after twenty years of war. Glory and praise belong to Allah alone."
