Al Qaeda May be Planning Terror Attack Against Israel
The National Terror Alert-June 14, 2008
A recent flurry of signals from Al Qaeda leaders has fueled concerns among terrorism experts that Al Qaeda could be setting up to launch an attack on Israel.
The worries about an impending attack actually grow out of the apparent struggles of the terrorist network, visible in mounting criticism from former members and leading Muslim theologians.
In recent weeks, the CIA chief has claimed that Al Qaeda had suffered setbacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and lengthy exposés in The New Yorker and The New Republic have detailed the inner debates raging within Al Qaeda, especially due to resentment over its indiscriminate killing of Muslims.
This perceived weakening has some experts predicting that Al Qaeda leaders would seek to repair the group’s image — and prove the skeptics wrong — with a spectacular attack on Israel, the one target on which all Muslim extremists seem to be able to agree.
“Regardless of how Al Qaeda is faring at any given time, it would always seize any opportunity to strike at Israel, which it regards as an illegitimate creation of the Crusader enemy,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and member of the National Security Council who is himself dubious about the alleged struggles of Osama bin Laden’s group. “If Al Qaeda has a means to strike Israeli targets, it will do so.”
While Al Qaeda has mentioned the Palestinians’ situation and urged militants to attack Israeli interests in previous years, the intensity of its calls to action have picked up in recent months.
The worries about an impending attack actually grow out of the apparent struggles of the terrorist network, visible in mounting criticism from former members and leading Muslim theologians.
In recent weeks, the CIA chief has claimed that Al Qaeda had suffered setbacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and lengthy exposés in The New Yorker and The New Republic have detailed the inner debates raging within Al Qaeda, especially due to resentment over its indiscriminate killing of Muslims.
This perceived weakening has some experts predicting that Al Qaeda leaders would seek to repair the group’s image — and prove the skeptics wrong — with a spectacular attack on Israel, the one target on which all Muslim extremists seem to be able to agree.
“Regardless of how Al Qaeda is faring at any given time, it would always seize any opportunity to strike at Israel, which it regards as an illegitimate creation of the Crusader enemy,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and member of the National Security Council who is himself dubious about the alleged struggles of Osama bin Laden’s group. “If Al Qaeda has a means to strike Israeli targets, it will do so.”
While Al Qaeda has mentioned the Palestinians’ situation and urged militants to attack Israeli interests in previous years, the intensity of its calls to action have picked up in recent months.
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