Islamic State calls on supporters in Israel to launch more terror attacks
Islamic State on Sunday urged its supporters in Israel to launch additional terror attacks, the first such call since two deadly terror attacks were carried out last month by Arab Israelis thought to have been inspired by the jihadist group.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for both attacks, though it did not appear the terrorists had been instructed by it to commit them.
In a long address for the holy month of Ramadan, the jihadist group’s spokesperson Abu Hamza al-Qurashi called for a new “global offensive” in retaliation for the death of its leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurayshi, last February.
“Fight them all and Allah will answer and punish them at your hands,” he said, referring to “heathen states.”
Al-Qurashi’s Ramadan address came as Israel has moved to crack down on Islamic State, after six Israelis were killed in a pair of terror attacks in Beersheba and Hadera by Arab Israeli supporters of the jihadist group.
He commented on the two recent attacks in Israel, calling on the group’s supporters to “arm themselves with weapons and carry out further attacks.”
At the same time, he argued that Jerusalem could be liberated from the Jews only through the return of the caliphate — and not through a Palestinian uprising or with the help of “those who have values that change according to the interests of their Roman masters (the West).”
He hailed the Arab Israeli attackers as “those who fought and were killed for the sake of Allah and religion,” and criticized the “secular terrorists” of Fatah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who are fighting for the land and the homeland.
He also called on all Muslims in the Arab world to oppose all leaders who have relations with Israel and want to make peace with it.
“Modern Muslim politicians trying to liberate Jerusalem are nothing more than puppets in the hands of Israel and the West,” he said.