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Reputed al Qaeda statement threatens Israel, its alliesPosting on Web site also claims Kenya attacks
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A new statement attributed to a man known to be close to Osama bin Laden threatened the "Jewish-Crusader alliance," promising that Israel and its allies will not feel safe "on land, at sea and in the air." The statement, attributed to Kuwaiti Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, also claimed that bin Laden's al Qaeda network was responsible for the attacks last month against an Israeli-owned hotel and an Israeli airliner in Mombasa, Kenya, though it provided no proof. "The two Mombasa attacks are the work of al Qaeda," the statement said. "Those attacks were against Israeli interests." Three suicide bombers killed 10 Kenyans and three Israelis at the Paradise Hotel on November 28. Minutes before, a pair of shoulder-launched missiles missed a chartered Israeli airliner with 271 aboard as it took off from Mombasa's airport. A statement attributed to al Qaeda and posted on the Internet on December 2 claimed responsibility for the Kenya attacks. That statement was posted on Web sites that have previously carried al Qaeda statements. The statement attributed to Abu Ghaith was broadcast on the Al-Jazeera television network and posted in a voice recording and transcript on an Islamist Web site. CNN has not independently confirmed that the voice is that of Abu Ghaith or that the statement was written by him. "The Jewish-Crusader alliance will not, God willing, be safe from attacks anywhere," the speaker said. "We will attack strategic interests with every means we have. "We will use the weapons of fear against the Jewish-Crusader alliance so they feel in danger, insecurity and instability on land, at sea and in the air." Abu Ghaith first appeared alongside bin Laden in a videotape released October 7, 2001, the day the United States launched its attacks in Afghanistan. Two days later, in a video broadcast on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, he condemned the U.S.-led war. He also appeared on a videotape found at a private residence in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and released by U.S. authorities a year ago. On that tape, a jovial bin Laden discusses the attack on the World Trade Center towers in New York, saying the destruction was far greater than he had hoped for. In that tape, Abu Ghaith speaks briefly, saying he was with bin Laden on September 11, 2001. Abu Ghaith praised the suicide hijackers in a statement broadcast on Al-Jazeera in April 2002, and claimed in a statement aired in June that "98 percent of the leadership of al Qaeda are safe" -- including bin Laden -- and promised more attacks against the United states. Abu Ghaith is also the al Qaeda spokesman who warned the United States this year to "fasten its seat belt" for future attacks in a statement posted on a Web site that had previously posted al Qaeda statements.
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