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This has been bugging me for some time. I have my own opinions, but I'd like to hear others. With respect to Israel, I believe AQ realizes that a major terrorist act would lead to the Israeli military opening up a major can of whoop-ass on a few neighboring countries. As for Iran, there's certainly reason for them to be hit. There's just about as much anti-Iranian rants as there are anti "Zionist" ones on the jihadi forums. My best guess is that the Iranians are holding some high-level AQ members hostage.

Terrorism analysts say al Qaeda may have conducted their first operation in Gaza. This after a video was released today of the two Fox News journalists held hostage since August 14 along with an accompanying written statement issued by a previously unknown group calling itself the "Holy Jihad Brigades." The language in the statement, which denounces the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is similar in style and content to the kind of dispatches issued by Abu Musab al Zarqawi when he was leading al Qaeda in Iraq. One sentence states, "You infidels and masters of oppression: Convert to Islam...

PARIS (AFP) - A group calling itself Al-Qaeda in Palestine said it carried out a bombing against the Palestinian intelligence chief and threatened more attacks in a statement posted on the Internet. "We declare our full responsibility for this operation," the group said in the statement, whose authenticity could not be independently verified. "Your mujahedeen brothers managed to place a bomb in the special lift used by the apostate Tareq Abu Rajab ... but were hasty in detonating the device which should have been triggered once the lift door was closed." Abu Rajab, overall head of the Palestinian intelligence services,...

Al Qaida on Sunday claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt on the chief of the Palestinian Authority General Intelligence Services Tarek Abu Rajab on the previous day. In one of its internet sites the Palestinian branch of the international terrorist organization also issued threats against PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and other senior Fatah officials.

‘‘We hereby declare that we have begun operating in Palestine,’’ the leaflet distributed in the name of Al-Tawhid and jihad said heaping praises on Al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Zarqawi. ‘‘We have decided to revive the Sunnah (one of the sources of Islamic jurisprudence) of slaughter against these people to avoid dissension,’’ the Jerusalem Post quoted the leaflet circulated in Gaza as saying. This is the first time the group, believed to be headed by Jordanian terrorist Zarqawi, has issued a leaflet in Gaza. A Hamas spokesman denied any connection to the threats, saying they did not...

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has warned that al-Qa'eda has infiltrated the West Bank and Gaza, from where it could launch "disastrous" attacks on Israel and its neighbours. Israeli army officers and intelligence analysts have already warned several times over the last year that al-Qa'eda has established cells in the Palestinian territories - a claim that the Palestinians have denied. But in an interview with al Hayat, an Arabic language newspaper, Mr Abbas admitted yesterday that Palestinian security forces have picked up traces of al-Qa'eda operatives. "We have indications about the presence of al-Qa'eda in Gaza and the West Bank....

For the first time, Israeli defense experts are noting that groups identifying with al-Qaeda - or the global jihad - are determined to acquire operational footholds close to Israel's borders. The most dramatic sign was the announcement of "al-Qaeda Mesopotamia" - the organization led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - that it fired four Katyusha rockets from Lebanon on December 27 that struck northern Israel. Israel has to understand that the new terrorism of al-Qaeda involves attacks of far greater lethality than those carried out by the Palestinians in the past. Many Western sources are convinced that Zarqawi was training his...

Al-Qaeda, Zarqawi, and Israel: Is There a New Jihadi Threat Destabilizing the Eastern Front?Dore Gold and Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan D. Halevi For the first time, Israeli defense experts are noting that groups identifying with al-Qaeda - or the global jihad - are determined to acquire operational footholds close to Israel's borders. The most dramatic sign was the announcement of "al-Qaeda Mesopotamia" - the organization led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - that it fired four Katyusha rockets from Lebanon on December 27, 2005, that struck northern Israel. On November 9, 2005, Zarqawi's network attacked three Jordanian hotels in Amman....

WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda operatives are establishing a base in Gaza for launching attacks against Israel and neighboring pro-American Arab regimes, current and former Israeli security officials say. Officials in Jerusalem and Washington are following this development with concern, Israeli and American sources said. They see the move as part of Al Qaeda's long-term plan to attack U.S. interests in the region. Using Gaza as a base of operations, Al Qaeda would be able to launch attacks against Israel, as well as against Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Israeli and American terrorism experts say. Israel has become a more attractive target...

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is David Keyes, who assisted a former Israeli ambassador to the U.N. and specialized on terrorism at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He recently returned from the Middle East where he co-authored academic papers with the former U.N. ambassador and the former head of Israeli military intelligence research and assessment. His latest paper, entitled “Al-Qaeda Infiltration of Gaza: A Post-Disengagement Assessment” was published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

For the first time, Israeli defense experts are noting that groups identifying with al-Qaeda - or the global jihad - are determined to acquire operational footholds close to Israel's borders. The most dramatic sign was the November 9, 2005, suicide bombing of three Jordanian hotels in Amman by "al-Qaeda Mesopotamia" - the organization led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Militant Islamic websites immediately announced: "After the attack in the heart of Jordan, it will soon be possible to reach Jewish targets in Israel." Al-Qaeda operations around Israel are becoming more prominent. In August 2005, an al-Qaeda rocket strike at the Jordanian Red Sea...

Since early December, a branch of Abu Musab al Zarqawi’s al Qaeda in Iraq has been running a forward base in Gaza City preparatory to in-depth attacks in Israel, according to DEBKAfile’s exclusive counter-terror sources. It joins the Al Qaeda-Palestine cell established some weeks ago in the Gaza Strip. A high-ranking Israeli army officer confided to us: “For years, we fought al Qaeda in unpublicized encounters in remote places far from our borders. Now we have to admit they are here, on our very threshold.” The officer went on to warn: “The conjunction of al Qaeda and Palestinian terrorist structures...

For the first time, Israeli defense experts are noting that groups identifying with al-Qaeda - or the global jihad - are determined to acquire operational footholds close to Israel's borders. The most dramatic sign was the November 9, 2005, suicide bombing of three Jordanian hotels in Amman by "al-Qaeda Mesopotamia" - the organization led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Militant Islamic websites immediately announced: "After the attack in the heart of Jordan, it will soon be possible to reach Jewish targets in Israel." Al-Qaeda operations around Israel are becoming more prominent. In August 2005, an al-Qaeda rocket strike at the Jordanian...

Hamas prisoners who felt group wasn’t ‘radical enough’ decided to join global terror network, Channel 2 reports; Shin Bet recovers Qaeda propaganda material. Two prisoners trained in Afghanistan, Pakistan The Israel Prison Service has discovered that nine Hamas prisoners with “blood on their hands” decided to join al-Qaeda, Channel 2 reported Tuesday evening. “We’re talking about a move of defiance against the Hamas, which isn’t radiical enough…in the prisoners view,” a prison official said. About a month ago, prison guards were able to recover written messages that prisoners attempted to smuggle to each other. An examination revealed the notes contained...

The head of Israel's counter-terrorism task force says militants from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network have slipped into the Gaza Strip. In an interview with Army Radio, the counter-terrorism chief, Danny Arditi, said Al Qaeda militants had crossed into Gaza from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in the chaotic aftermath of Israel's pullout from the Palestinian territory. For several days after the withdrawal, thousands of people were allowed to cross the Gaza-Egypt border unhindered. Brigadier-General Arditi says Al Qaeda already has several cells in the Sinai, which have carried out two attacks in the last year, leaving more than 100 people...

Has al-Qaida started operating in the Gaza Strip? A leaflet distributed in Khan Yunis over the weekend by al-Qaida's "Palestine branch" announced that the terrorist group has begun working towards uniting the Muslims under one Islamic state. "The Muslim nation has been subjected, through various periods, to conspiracies by the infidels," the leaflet said. "[The infidels] have brought down the Islamic Caliphate, dividing the nation into small and weak states. They also managed to dilute the Islamic and character of the nation."

Has al-Qaida started operating in the Gaza Strip? A leaflet distributed in Khan Yunis over the weekend by al-Qaida's "Palestine branch" announced that the terrorist group has begun working towards uniting the Muslims under one Islamic state. "The Muslim nation has been subjected, through various periods, to conspiracies by the infidels," the leaflet said. "[The infidels] have brought down the Islamic Caliphate, dividing the nation into small and weak states. They also managed to dilute the Islamic and character of the nation." The leaflet said unity was the only way for Muslims to achieve victory over their enemies, adding that...

Border Policemen and Israel Defense Forces trackers in the southern Negev region early Thursday morning arrested 20 Palestinians residents of the Gaza Strip attempting to infiltrate into Israel along the border with Egypt. The Palestinians, who were arrested in three different incidents, said they exited the Strip through the Philadelphi route which borders with Egypt, and where Palestinians have been able to cross unhindered in and out of Egypt since Israel completed its withdrawal from Gaza. The arrested men were taken for police questioning to establish whether they wished to enter Israel in order to carry out terror attacks. IDF...

JERUSALEM, July 24 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda seeks to strike at Israel but there is no concrete indication such an attack is imminent, a senior Israeli official said on Sunday. Bombings in Britain and the Egyptian Sinai have stirred speculation the Jewish state, which Osama bin Laden has long vilified, could be high on the group's hit list. But Danny Arditi, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's top counter-terrorism advisor, said: "We have no information, for now, on intended al Qaeda operations against Israel." "My assessment is that we are slowly coming into their sights," he told Israel's Army Radio. "They are...

"Alla knows, if we could get chemical weapons, we would use them against Israeli cities like Eilat and Tel Aviv", said a high ranking al Qaeda member in a video cassette broadcast on an Arab television station and uploaded on Moslem websites on the Internet. He made these statements in response to reports that Jordanian security forces had averted a chemical attack that al Qaeda planned to carry out in that country. He admitted that the organization planned to carry out an attack, but that it was not chemical. "Yes, we planned to destroy the building which houses Jordanian intelligence",...