DUBAI: Osama bin Laden s right-hand man Ayman Al-Zawahri took aim at US President Barack Obama in a new video, accusing him of continuing to spill the blood of Muslims and saying Israel was a crime that must be wiped out, according to a US monitoring group.
He also dismissed Obama s Middle East peace push as a deception, and accused Obama of seeking to create a Palestinian state that works as a branch of the Israeli intelligence, according to a transcript of an interview published by the SITE Intelligence Group on Monday.
Israel is a crime that must be eliminated, declared the Egyptian-born surgeon considered the brains behind Al-Qaeda, adding that Muslims have a duty to expel Israel from Palestine.
Zawahri, whose whereabouts remain a mystery, also rejected Obama s overtures to the Muslim world as an illusion, pointing to raids in Pakistan s tribal regions and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Zawahri, who dismissed Obama as a house negro after his election in November 2008, branded the US president a criminal and a liar.
I say to him and to the Americans, plant hatred in the hearts of Muslims to reap (the harvest) from your blood, Zawahri said in his latest interview with Al-Qaeda s media arm As-Sahab.
Obama, who made a landmark speech in Cairo in June calling for improved ties between the West and Islam, tries to sell an illusion to the wrong and oppressed, said Zawahri, who has a $25-million US bounty on his head.
He charged that Muslims were being massacred because of Obama s policies in Pakistan and Afghanistan and insisted that Islamist fighters would continue to battle infidel troops until they withdraw from Muslim land.
In July, Zawahri urged Pakistanis to support insurgents in their battle against a US-led crusade which he said threatened the country s existence, according to video which SITE said was posted on jihadists web forums.
Zawahri also blasted Obama s Middle East policies, saying the US president was not sincere in his declared quest to reach a solution to decades of conflict and set up an independent Palestinian state.
This is what Obama wants for us, a Palestinian state that works as a branch for the Israeli intelligence, Zawahri was quoted as saying.
Obama is like a wolf with claws deep in your flesh and asking you to give up your defense because he wants peace with you.
Obama is only a blood-spiller of Muslims like his predecessor, (George W.) Bush, Zawahri said.
He also lashed out at French President Nicolas Sarkozy who said in June that the head-to-toe burqa is a sign of women s subservience that was not welcome in staunchly secular France.
France claims to be secular while its heart flows with hate towards Islam, Zawahri was quoted as saying.
The burqa, which covers a woman s body from head to toe including a mesh-like slit for the eyes, is what is worn by some hardline Muslims. -AFP
