I know, I know, what else is new? But after Mughniyeh has gone to his virgins, the saber-rattling is increasing.
“Al-Qaida in Iraq threatens Israel,” by Maamoun Youssef for Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt – The purported leader of al-Qaida’s affiliate in Iraq called in a new posting on a militant Web site on Thursday for attacks on Israel and proposed that Iraq’s territory be a “launching pad” to seize Jerusalem.
In the 30-minute audiotape, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, said to head the Islamic State of Iraq, lashed out at Arab and Palestinian groups “” especially the Palestinian Hamas “” for failing to liberate the Palestinians. […]
In the latest audiotape, al-Baghdadi also threatened moderate Palestinians, saying that jihad makes “no distinctions between the infidel Jews and the renegade Palestinians … between (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert and his criminals and (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas and his gang.”
He called the state of Israel a “wicked germ sown in the (Palestinian) nation’s body which should be uprooted, even if the traitors signed thousands of surrender treaties.”
Much of the audiotape was devoted to threats against Hamas political leaders “who betrayed the nation and turned against the blood of the martyrs,” al-Baghdadi said, also saying that Hamas has been pressuring its military wing not to stage rocket attacks on Israel but to accept a truce.
Al-Baghdadi called for “opening new fronts to ease the American and Jewish pressure off the Palestinians while bolstering the fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan.” He urged every “working Muslim to spare 2 dollars a month, half of it would go to our Palestinian brothers and the other half to finance other fronts.”
As for attacks on Israel, al-Baghdadi said the “Islamic state in Iraq will be the cornerstone for the return of Al-Quds” and added the group was trying to use Iraq’s western province of al-Anbar as a launching pad for missiles against Israel “” the same way the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein fired 31 missiles against the Jewish state in the Gulf War.
“The Jews and the Americans have realized this and tried by all means to prevent us from achieving this target including the fierce campaign on al-Anbar, knowing that it is easy to fire missiles on Israel from some parts there,” al-Baghdadi said.
“Hezbollah chief threatens Israel,” by Sam F. Ghattas for Associated Press:
BEIRUT, Lebanon – The chief of Hezbollah threatened Thursday to retaliate against Israeli targets after accusing the Jewish state of killing the militant Imad Mughniyeh in Syria.
Hassan Nasrallah addressed supporters of the Lebanese Islamic militant group in a videotaped eulogy broadcast on a giant screen at the Beirut funeral for Mughniyeh, who was accused of masterminding dramatic attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s.
“You have killed Hajj Imad outside the natural battlefield,” Nasrallah said in remarks directed at Israel. Hezbollah has long contended it only fights Israel within Lebanon and along their common border.
“You have crossed the borders,” Nasrallah said. “With this murder, its timing, location and method “” Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open.”
Sure, pal. Like it wasn’t already.