In a recent tape recording, Osama bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri promised Hamas support if it did not deviate from the path of radical Islam and jihad.

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC)

July 5, 2007

In a recent tape recording, Osama bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri promised Hamas support if it did not deviate from the path of radical Islam and jihad. He also promised financial and military support from Al-Qaeda. Hamas dismissed the offer for fear of further complications with the Arab-Muslim world.

The picture of Ayman al-Zawahiri which appeared as the tape played in the background on a global jihad Website (June 25, 2007).

Overview

On June 25, 2007, Osama bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri issued a tape recording of an appeal to Hamas. It appeared on Websites affiliated with Al-Qaeda and was apparently recorded a few days previously.

Al-Zawahiri expressed support for Hamas following the takeover of the Gaza Strip and called upon the Islamic nation to support it as well. He promised that Al-Qaeda would not abandon Hamas in its war with Israel and would enlist operatives, money and weapons, and would train operatives and attack American and Israeli interests.

At the same time, he warned Hamas that it was to enforce Islamic law on the regions which belonged to Muslims (i.e., the Gaza Strip) and to collaborate with jihad fighters all over the world (See the Appendix).

So far Al-Qaeda has been conspicuously reserved regarding Hamas and the Palestinian Authority’s political moves. Moreover, on a number of occasions al-Zawahiri has been severely critical of the movement, accusing it of having “abandoned jihad” and “sold Palestine to the Zionists.”¹ As opposed to previous criticism, al-Zawahiri now seems more conciliatory, although still clearly suspicious and untrusting.

Al-Zawahiri’s appeal to Hamas seems to indicate that the heads of Al-Qaeda view the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip as favorable, in that it is the first time that part of “Palestine” is under radical Islamic rule. In addition, Al-Qaeda may view the situation as an opportunity to strengthen the global jihad in a region bordering on Israel and Egypt (by joining with global jihad forces which have a foothold in the Sinai peninsula).

Since its January 2006 victory in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections and rise to power, Hamas has been careful to publicly dissociate itself from any connection with either Al-Qaeda or the global jihad, despite the ideological similarities between them. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior figure in organization, was quick to dismiss links between Hamas and Al-Qaeda, stating that the heads of Hamas were “mature enough to direct their campaign in accordance with the interests of the Palestinian people” (Al-Jazeera TV, June 26). Apparently Hamas fears that too much support from the global jihad is liable to further complicate its relations with the Arab-Muslim world, especially with countries like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, following its takeover of the Gaza Strip and the creation of the emergency government by Fatah-oriented Salam Fayyad in the West Bank.

Appendix

The tape recording

The following were the main points of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s tape recording:

A. A call for the Arab states to adopt Islam to defend the Arab nation: Al-Zawahiri reminded the Arab states that forty years had passed since “the fall of Jerusalem” [a reference to the Six Day War, June 1967]. He said that Muslims had to ask themselves why all the Arab nations and armies had failed in their duty to defend Jerusalem. He claimed that Jerusalem had fallen because the Arab states and their leaders had abandoned Islam and led their people into corruption. He called upon all Muslims to come to their senses and understand that the jihad warriors were the only ones defending the Islamic nation. He also noted (a hint to Hamas) that there were red lines that could not be crossed, such as abandoning the rule of Islamic law and ceding territories belonging to Islam.

B. An attack on Abu Mazen and the PLO, both operating, he claimed, with the support of the United States and the Western countries: al-Zawahiri repeated the statement by Ismail Haniya, the Hamas prime minister in Gaza, that one of the factions in the PLO had tried to carry out a coup under the command of an American general [Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, U.S. Security Coordinator] and with the support of the Egyptian regime, which had trained 5,000 of Abu Mazen’s forces and given them weapons. Al-Zawahiri also drew attention to the fact that the United States and the European Union gave their full support to the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

C. An appeal to Hamas to join the global jihad and to the Islamic nation to support Hamas: al-Zawahiri stated that the view that the Palestinian struggle was not linked to the global jihad’s campaign would lead only to defeat. He appealed to Hamas, saying that Al-Qaeda and the entire Islamic nation² stood by its side. However, he was careful to note that Hamas had to correct its path, and to remember that taking control of the government wasn’t everything. Hamas had to rule in accordance with the path of Allah (i.e., radical Islam) and collaborate with the jihad warriors in Palestine and the rest of the world to be able to stand up to its enemies. Al-Zawahiri claimed that one of the leaders of Hamas [it is unclear to whom he was referring] had spoken out against Osama bin Laden, and criticized the Hamas operatives who related to the fighting in Chechnya as an internal Russian matter instead of a pan-Islamic one.

D. Al-Qaeda would support Hamas and not abandon it in its war against Israel: without giving details, al-Zawahiri mentioned an article in the London Sunday Times,³ which reported that Ehud Barak, the new Israeli Minister of Defense, was allegedly preparing 20,000 troops with air backup to invade the Gaza Strip, supported by the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian regimes. He said that in such circumstances Al-Qaeda would not abandon Hamas. As to how Hamas would be supported, he said that Al-Qaeda would enlist operatives and money, send weapons from neighboring countries, train operatives and help attack American and Israeli interests, all of them missions, he said, which were the duty of every Muslim.

E. An appeal to the Bedouin tribes in the Sinai peninsula to support Hamas: al-Zawahiri called upon the Bedouin tribes in the Sinai peninsula to decide for themselves whether to stand beside the Palestinians or to abandon them.⁴ It should be noted that in the past, global jihad elements gained a foothold among the Bedouin tribes in the Sinai and even carried out a few lethal terrorist attacks, most of them against local Egyptian tourist sites.

1. For further information see the March 22, 2oo7 Bulletin entitled “Ayman al-Zawahiri lashed out at the Hamas movement once again, accusing it of abandoning jihad and “selling Palestine” for seats in the Palestinian unity government,” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/al_zawahiri_e.htm .

2. In Arabic, al-‘ummah al-islamiyyah, which means “the community of believers.” The significance of the term is that it does not recognize borders. Nation is a secular term which refers to the society which comprises a state.

3.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article1942875.ece.

4. Abdallah Jahama, chairman of the tribal council in central Sinai, condemned Ayman al-Zawahiri’s appeal to the Bedouin tribes to support Hamas, saying that the residents of Sinai had no connection to the events of the Gaza Strip, which were an internal Palestinian matter (Middle East News Agency, June 26).