Osama bin Laden released a new message on Sunday denouncing Arab leaders for sacrificing the Palestinians and saying the head of the Shiite Hizbullah did not really have the strength to take on Israel. In his second audio message in three days focusing on the Palestinians, the al-Qaeda chief said the only way to liberate Palestine is to fight the Arab regimes that are protecting Israel.
According to the AP, he called on Muslim fighters in Egypt to help break the blockade of Gaza. Bin Laden said Muslims should ignore the Islamic prohibition against raising arms against fellow Muslims, claiming it was legitimate to rise up against leaders who are not governing according to Islamic law. Those leaders, he said, came to power "either by a military coup or with backing from foreign forces."
"Those (Arab) kings and leaders sacrificed Palestine and Al-Aqsa to keep their crowns," bin Laden said, referring to Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. "But we will not be relieved of this responsibility."
He called Arab leaders "agents of the crusaders" and "wolves." "Every day, the herd wishes the wolves would stop preying on it," he said. He said Israel was weak but the Arabs have not fought "even a single serious war to get Palestine back."
Bin Laden singled out by name Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hizbullah. Bin Laden said Nasrallah claimed he had enough resources, such as money and combatants, to fight Israel. "But the truth is the opposite," he said. "If he was honest and has enough (resources), why then he did not support the fight to liberate Palestine."
He also attacked Nasrallah for allowing the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon "to protect the Jews."
He said Arab leaders have stopped taking their instructions from Islam and started taking them from the U.S. "They have decided that peace with the Zionists is their strategic option, so damn their decision."
