Attempting to capitalize on the international outrage, particularly in the Muslim world, over the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, Osama bin Laden’s newest audio tape calls for all Muslims to launch a jihad against Israel. His speech also targeted the leaders of most of the Arab governments, accusing them of “stand[ing] in the barracks of the Crusader-Zionist alliance.”

Bin Laden also spoke of President-elect Barack Obama, though he never mentioned him by name and referred to him only as Bush’s successor. “If he withdraws from the war, it is a military defeat. If he continues, he drowns in economic crisis,” he declared, adding that while America was unlikely to be able to continue the war for decades al-Qaeda is prepared to fight “for seven more years, and seven more after that, then seven more.”

According to the elusive al-Qaeda leader, “the great and swift decline in America’s influence is one of …