Al-Qaeda urges attacks on US, Israel after Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem
Terror group issues call for jihad, telling followers US is modern-day ‘pharaoh’
The al-Qaeda terror group urged its followers the world over to target vital interests of the United States, its allies and Israel in response to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
A statement posted Friday on al-Qaeda’s media arm as-Sahab, in both Arabic and English, urged holy war or jihad and described America as a modern-era “pharaoh” oppressing Muslims.
The statement says “the surest and quickest way to confront the aggression of the pharaoh of our age — America — is jihad in Allah’s name by targeting the vital interests of the United States and its Zionist and Crusader (Christian) allies everywhere.”
Al Qaeda affiliated Global Islamic Media Front & As Sahab publish English translations of Al Qaeda calls for jihad following President Trump's #JerusalemEmbassy announcement pic.twitter.com/SdxA43lker
— jihadoScope (@JihadoScope) December 7, 2017
Branches of the global terror network, including the North Africa branch known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and also al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, issued similar statements.
In a Wednesday address from the White House, Trump defied worldwide warnings and insisted that after repeated failures to achieve peace a new approach was long overdue, describing his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government as merely based on reality.
The move was hailed by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and by leaders across much of the Israeli political spectrum. Trump stressed that he was not specifying the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in the city, and called for no change in the status quo at the city’s holy sites.
