Al Qaeda’s New Publication: “The Jews” Are Unworthy of the Promised Land

Shown above is the cover of al Qaeda’s new print-Internet magazine Zerwat al Sanam, – Tip of the Camel’s Hump. A lavishly produced, professionally-edited publication, it reads as though Iraq commander Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was dictating his operational creed – yet another indication of his high rank in al Qaeda’s hierarchy.
A five-page essay appearing under the transparent alias of Abu Zubeida al-Baghdadi is titled: How should Islam relate to the Jews? This is the first time this question has been discussed in theological terms in any al Qaeda publication. The writer’s choice of name – a nom de guerre rather than a nom to plume – and the cover, both bespeak violence rather than polemic. From the first week of July, the terror group’s releases have included “Israel”, the “Jews” and “Zionists” in the same threatening context as “infidels”, “Crusaders” and “sons of Satan”, the epithets reserved for the Americans and their allies. This heightened focus on Israel and Jews dates from the internal directive Zarqawi passed to his adherents, which said: “Israel is on our list of targets… and very soon.”
debkafile‘s Islamist experts have translated passages from this article as it appeared in the new Tip of the Camel’s Hump. [Editorial comment appears in brackets]
Al Baghdadi divides Muslim lore on the Jewish people into two stages.
Stage One: Allah decided to test the Jews when they were still an oppressed people. [Ed. In Pharaohs’ Egypt]. He seeks to lead them to the path of faith and victory and therefore urges them to conquer the Land of Israel [acknowledging that Allah caused the Jews to return to and conquer the Land of Israel]. But the Jewish people’s main weakness emerges at this early stage. Its shoulders are too feeble to carry the heavy burden; the Jews always aspire to victory, but they are not willing to devote the necessary effort, sacrifice or sweat to achieve this end.
The Jews have learned and must still learn, says al Baghdadi, that there is no victory without sacrifice. [Al Qaeda’s followers, in contrast, are ready at all times to make personal sacrifices].
To this day, the Jews have not discovered that which heaven imparted to us [the Muslims], that Allah grants victory only to he who dares cross the threshold and face danger alone. But the sons of Israel want God to go before them and win their victory for them.
The writer here differentiates between God’s authentic representatives and Jews who, he says, make cynical use of the divinity.
Stage Two: Throughout the generations it transpired that Jews, unlike Muslims, do not fear Allah and are incapable of understanding that the world’s moving force is fear of Allah, not of people. For example, they are even more afraid to fight for the Promised Land than they are of God. [Ed. This argument attempts to portray the Jews as cowards who are scared to fight for their paramount value, the Promised Land, and willing to give away parts in order to shirk war.)
For this reason, says the al Qaeda essayist, the Jewish people does not find it hard to break the covenant between God and Abram, which awarded the Land of Israel to the Jewish people for all generations. [Ed.The writer is referring to Brith Habetarim, Genesis 15: 18. In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.]
That is why Allah has despaired of the Jews, in the view of the al Qaeda essayist. After bequeathing them every possible means for securing victory and independence, God found his effort had been in vain. Therefore the time has come to get rid of the Jews, because that is Allah’s wish, al Baghdadi concludes.
He then discusses the best timing for a strike against the Jews. He warns that if it delivered too early, it could miss its objective.
In another article in the same magazine, President George W. Bush is challenged as a religious Christian. If he believes in the apocalyptical Gogmagog final battle against the “people of God”, says the writer sarcastically, why not let him have that final battle?
Much of the Camel’s content delves into the Scriptures to fabricate theological weapons for the radical Islamic war against Christians and Jews, thereby also supporting al Qaeda’s territorial ambitions. The voices behind the articles bluntly place the conflict between Islam and the West in the religious-territorial arena rather than the moral-social sphere.