7 January 2013: As a follow-up to SITREP B11-13: Psalm 83 and AQ in Iraq, it is only natural that attention be turned to the core of that prophecy as it relates to Israel and the threat posed to it by the numerous jihadist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda that are already making their presence felt throughout Judea and Samaria.
The affiliation of jihadist groups I am referring to here have nothing to do with HAMAS or any of the older, more well-known Palestinian terrorist groups such as Fatah or the PFLP-GC or even the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) which are tied at the hip to Alawite-controlled Damascus and the Shi'a mullahs of Iran. This affiliation goes directly to Al Qaeda who are currently enjoying a great resurgence and success in Syria and especially in Iraq. Their so-called "emirate" stretches from Aleppo in Syria to Falluja, which lies just about 20-some odd miles west of Baghdad International Airport.
As reported by Bill Gertz in his "Inside the Ring" column on 25 December, the recently retired Deputy Director of the CIA, Michael Morrell, reported to CBS News that the Al Qaeda-linked terrorist groups known as Al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham are the two most effective insurgent Sunni Islamist groups in that conflict and that he fears the jihadists groups linked to Al Qaeda will eventually take power in Syria. His fears are not unfounded. Indeed, it is known in US intelligence circles that Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda's No. 1, has his man sitting at the top of the Ahrar al-Sham leadership. It not should go without saying that the former Deputy Director of the CIA fears this despite knowing all too well that the opposing Shi'a forces of Hezbollah and the IRGC are operating against them in Syria and from next door in Lebanon. This is important and must be taken into account in any assessment of the unfolding situation in the Levant and in Iraq, as well as the potential for it to spread into Jordan and the threat it will ultimately pose to Israel in the very near-term.
But what threat does Al Qaeda pose to Israel beyond that of the aforementioned longstanding terrorist groups? Well, one has to take into account the origin of Al Qaeda as founded by Osama bin Laden, and exactly who his mentor and inspirational teacher was. That man was Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, a Palestinian, who is known as the "father of the global jihad." Azzam was born in 1941 just outside of Jenin in northern Samaria. At the age of 26 Abdullah Azzam was teaching and preaching jihadist Islam at the local mosque in the village of Silat al-Harithiya until the IDF conquest of June 1967. And the rest is history as this man was the inspiration for the creation of Al Qaeda, the "base" of Islamic jihadism in the world.
Besides being Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri's mentor and inspirational sage, Abdullah Azzam is the name-sake of the Lebanon, Jordan and Gaza-based Abdullah Azzam Brigades (AAB) terrorist sub-units which I believe are becoming a major terrorist concern for Israel as well as for the Palestinian Authority who they view as weak and ineffectual in the cause of the jihad. I believe it is the Al Qaeda-linked AAB which has been a key but largely unheralded player in the recent surge of terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria. The AAB's sub-units are engaged in current combat operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah, the IRGC and the Iranian Embassy itself. They are operating with the aforementioned Al Qaeda terrorist groups in Syria against a coalition of Bashar al-Assad's government forces, Hezbollah and the IRGC. They are making their presence felt also in Judea, Samaria and Gaza; they will lash out at PA security forces as quickly as they will Israelis. The AAB are truly the rabid dogs of Islamic jihadism.
Now that I've given the current Middle East wars in both micro and macroscopic views, it's time to tie this in with Psalm 83. Asaph names for us all of the peoples and regions of Israel's enemies, the ancient hatred that has manifested since the rebirth of Israel in 1948. The one enemy group which is active in all of these places is Al Qaeda and their various affiliates. And what does Asaph tell us of these enemies? He says in verse two that they, above all else, are the enemies of YHWH God; that they hate YHWH God. And who is the god of Islam? And who is it that wages war against Him and His chosen people? The jihadists of Islam whose modern-day father was born in Jenin, Samaria. Therefore, I submit that Islamic jihad is the final manifestation, the final ideological basis of consulting and conspiracy of agenda to destroy the State of Israel and the chosen of God. And according to Asaph it will be the undoing and perishing of Islam that will be accomplished. The jihadists of Islam will come to know that their god is a false god, that YHWH is the One true God, or they will be swept from the field of battle and from existence, "like chaff before the wind."
