ISIS have threatened Israel in an article in their weekly newsletter this week, saying that unlike Hamas, the “war on Israel will not be limited by geographical boundaries or by international norms”.
According to the article in the Al-Naba newsletter identified by MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute), Israel feels threatened by ISIS because of the “collapse” of neighbouring states and the terrorist group’s advance toward the borders of the Jewish state.
The article states: “The collapse of the Sykes-Picot statelets, which were tasked with protecting the Jewish state; the approach of ISIS mujahideen toward its borders; [Israel’s] fear of the spread of its [ISIS’s] methodology among the oppressed Muslims inside those borders; and the manifest failure of the Crusader states who protect the Jews to win the battle against it [ISIS] – all these are factors that caused the Jewish state to not sit idly by in face of this danger”.
It continues: “Any threat its leaders [issue against] the Jews emanates from the [promise] from Allah that He will enable them to carry it out. As the [Islamic State of Iraq leader] Sheikh Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi said in the past, he and those that are with him fight in Iraq while their eyes are on Jerusalem”.
The article also claims that the group is more capable than others have been in the past of attacking Israel since it is closer to Israel.
The article concludes: “Let the Jews bomb with their planes, they are not harsher on us than the Crusaders’ planes and Allah enabled us to persevere [against] those…. With Allah’s permission they will be overpowered, and then they will be taken to hell”.
The MEMRI report notes that the Islamic State ideology does not view Israel as its primary target, but rather as one to be fought later, after the terror group conquers the Arab countries surrounding it.
