Experts Blame Iraq Invasion, Israeli Pullout
WASHINGTON -- Al Qaeda operatives are establishing a base in Gaza for launching attacks against Israel and neighboring pro-American Arab regimes, current and former Israeli security officials say.
Israel has become a more attractive target for Al Qaeda with the growing influence of the organization's leader in Iraq, Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, who places a higher priority than Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden did on attacking Israeli and Jewish targets, as the Forward first reported last year. "Zarqawi has been saying for some time that after the battle in Iraq is won, the next phase will be the liberation of the Al Aqsa," the mosque in Jerusalem that is Islam's third holiest site, said Yoram Kahati, a former Israeli intelligence officer.
"The battle for Palestine, as Zarqawi sees it, is the ultimate one," said Kahati, now a research fellow at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism of the Israel Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.
http://www.forward.com/...
Iraq al Qaeda claims missile attack on Israel
Al Qaeda in Iraq said it had launched missiles at Israel from Lebanon as part of a "new attack" on the Jewish state, a statement posted on the Web said on Thursday.
"The lion sons of al Qaeda launched ... a new attack on the Jewish state by launching 10 missiles ... from the Muslims' lands in Lebanon on selected targets in the north of the Jewish state," said the statement, attributed to al Qaeda and posted on an Islamist Web site.
It appeared to be the first claim of responsibility from al Qaeda for an attack on Israel from Lebanon. The statement could not be authenticated, but was posted on a main Web site frequently used by Iraqi insurgent groups.
http://tinylink.com/...
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The first ever al-Qaeda attack on Israel. Guess whose war made the people of Israel less safe?