The Islamic State urged its fighters across the Middle East on Monday to take up arms against Jews in Israel, announcing a “new stage” in its war against the Jewish people.
ISIS announced a new phase of attacks focusing on Israel, calling on ISIS factions in the Sinai Peninsula and the Levant to target Israeli sites, according to the transcript of a 37-minute recording of a speech provided to the Washington Examiner.
“Today, we have begun a new stage in our war against you,” said ISIS spokesman Abu Hamza al Qurayshi on Monday. “Go for the Israeli settlements and marketplaces. Turn them into lands for testing your weapons and chemical rockets and other types [of weapons].”
“To the Muslims in Palestine and all countries: Be a spearhead in the war against the Jews and in thwarting their plans and their ‘deal of the century,'” he added.
Qurayshi praised ISIS affiliates and new outlets for pledging allegiance to the new leader of ISIS, Abu Ibrahim al Hashimi al Qurayshi, after the United States killed the former leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, on Oct. 26.
“We order you to double the activity and increase the strikes,” Qurayshi continued. “Write down the targets, draw up plans and booby trap the roads, lay down [roadside bombs], and spread out snipers and kill with silencers. Turn the infidels’ joy into funerals, and lie in wait for them everywhere.”
The ‘deal of the century’ Qurayshi is referring to is the peace plan President Donald Trump revealed on Tuesday that proposes a two-state solution for the Israelis and Palestinians.
In what he said was the first time Israel authorized a conceptual map of the potential agreement, Trump tweeted a picture of what the proposal would look like and what areas would be controlled by Israel and Palestine.
This is what a future State of Palestine can look like, with a capital in parts of East Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/39vw3pPrAL
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2020
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Tuesday to further discuss the plans.
Palestinians have so far largely rejected it, even though the plan includes a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, which was a condition Palestinian leaders requested.
Additionally, the plan includes tunneling that would connect the West Bank and Gaza.
Trump also proposed a four-year moratorium that would temporarily end Israeli expansion to give Palestinians time to study the deal.
The United States has requested to meet with Palestinian officials to discuss peace plans at least 10 times, but the vice chairman of Palestine’s ruling Fatah party, Mahmoud al-Aloul, rejected them.
“They want to be able to say that they have our input,” Aloul said. “But [Trump] is not doing this to help us, but to help his friend Netanyahu in his campaign.”
Qurayshi also mocked Iran’s response to the United States’ airstrike that killed their top general in early January, saying, “Your response was nothing more than smashing the glass of the crusader American Embassy in Baghdad.”
