Bin Laden Calls for Jihad Over Gaza
Bin Laden calls for jihad over Israeli offensive in Gaza in new audio tape.
DUBAI, Jan. 14, 2009 — -- Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden called for jihad over the Israeli offensive in Gaza in a new audio tape that appeared on Islamist websites on Wednesday.
"God has bestowed us with the patience to continue the path of jihad for another seven years, and seven and seven years," bin Laden said in the tape that was dated in the current Islamic month.
The tape was entitled "A Call for Jihad to Stop the Aggression against Gaza".
"The question is, can America continue its war with us for several more decades to come? Reports and evidence would suggest otherwise," he said. The authenticity of the tape could not immediately be verified.
The Palestinian death toll from the 19-day-old Israeli offensive against the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza has risen to 971. Israel says 13 Israelis have been killed.
The Saudi-born militant said the global financial crisis had exposed the waning influence of the United States in world affairs and would in turn weaken its ally Israel.
(Reporting by Firouz Sedarat, Editing by Lin Noueihed and Samia Nakhoul)
