JERUSALEM (JTA) — A group linked to al-Qaida released a threat in Hebrew threatening to avenge Israel’s assassination of two Gaza terrorists.
The 30-second message released Thursday said the "aggressor Jews" will not be safe from attack until they "leave the land of Palestine." The speaker claims to be a member of Jemaa Ansar al-Sunna, or Community of Sunna Supporters, which has a branch in Gaza.
The use of Hebrew by an al-Qaida affiliate was unprecedented, Matti Steinberg, a former Israeli intelligence official specializing in Islam, told Israeli media. "It seems that the idea behind this is to make Jews feel that the threat is more imminent now, and not a distant warning," Steinberg said of the use of Hebrew, in an interview on Israel’s Channel 10.
The message appears to be in response to the killings by Israel’s military of Muhammad Namnam on Nov. 3 and Islam Yasin on Wednesday. The two led the al-Qaida-linked Palestinian Islamist group Army of Islam and were planning an attack on Israelis vacationing in the Sinai, the Israel Defense Forces said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
