You knew it was coming eventually. Hey, he has to stay relevant somehow among global jihadis, which means that commenting on current events where Islamic terrorists are engaged against "infidel" democracies is a must. Hence, his "Gaza-burg Address." From CBN News:
JERUSALEM, Israel - Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden called for renewed jihad ("holy" war) against Israel for its operation in the Gaza Strip.
The authenticity of the hour-long audio message, posted on Islamic Web sites Tuesday evening, could not be verified, but the voice reportedly sound like bin Laden's.
"We intend to liberate Palestine [SIC] the whole of Palestine from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea," the al-Qaeda chief said.
"We will not recognize even one inch for Jews in the land of Palestine, as other Muslim leaders have," he said.
"I assure our kin in Palestine, especially, that we shall expand our jihad," bin Laden said.
Just as with the Iranian "volunteers" last week, it would be difficult for any Al Qaeda operatives to penetrate Israel or Gaza right now, since the Israelis basically have the whole area on lockdown as the conflict rages. My fear, however, is that jihadis will heed bin Laden's call as a signal to attack Jewish and Israeli targets (embassies, synagogues, etc.) worldwide. We've already seen it in Europe over the past 3 weeks on a smaller scale--I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually escalates into suicide bombings against Jewish targets. Just look at the targeting of Jews during the Mumbai attacks--and that was before the Gaza operation, which has caused Islamo-rage against the Jews to rise to off-the-charts levels.