On March 11, Al-Malahem, the media arm of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, released a video featuring the group’s senior commander, Khaled Batarfi, condemning Arab and Gulf governments, and accusing them of hastening to normalize relations with Israel, reported MEMRI’s Jihad & Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM).
In the video, which was published on AQAP’s official Telegram channel, Batarfi called on Muslims to confront their governments militarily and intellectually.
Accusing Arab and Gulf State government of pleasing the Jews and Christians, Batarfi said that they have “diligently tried to promote the so-called ‘deal of the century.’ ”
They noted that the issue of the Tiran and Sanafir Islands between Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and the kingdom’s multibillion-dollar Neom City project, had been planned “to boost the deal and finalize the sale of Palestine to the Jews and the displacement of the Muslims to the Sinai.”
Batarfi condemned Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Oman and U.S. President Donald Trump’s praise of Saudi Arabia in the wake of the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as Trump’s acknowledgment of the important role it plays in the region. Batarfi stated that “the Christians and Jews leaders have become lawyers defending Al-Saud because they the ones who benefits the most from them.”
Next, Batarfi accused Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman of “secularizing” Saudi Arabia and promoting “debauchery” by creating the General Entertainment Authority. He condemned the imprisonment of religious clerics and reformers, and the hosting of Western priests and rabbis.
Addressing Muslims, Batarfi accused Saudi Crown Prince and Mohammed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, of secularizing their societies in order to “facilitate the normalization, promote co-existence with the West and Israel … and to please their Crusader master Trump to keep them in their thrones.”
Batarfi then mentioned that Saudi Arabia and UAE’s position against political Islamist groups and their support of regimes and groups opposing the Arab Spring are meant to “thwart all the attempts at Islam-inspired projects.”
He then condemned the UAE and Bahrain’s re-opening of their embassies in Syria, as well as Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir’s visit to Damascus, saying that these actions prove that Arab governments are not concerned about those the Syrian regime killed, and that all what they care about is “pleasing the Jews and the Christians to secure their thrones.”
Batarfi urged Muslims not to remain silent regarding “this major crime” committed by their governments, and called on them to “prepare to confront them militarily, intellectually and in all domains.”
“Remember,” he said, “that we have scholars, men and women languishing in the prisons of those tyrants whose crimes were refusing to remain silent against the falsehood of these rulers, and they are awaiting of our support for them and we will be asked if we have let them down.”
Batarfi concluded by urging Muslims to unite to confront and remove these governments, and seek guidance from the truthful scholars to “change this bitter situation.”