Did Everyone Get The Memo About The Holy War Against Israel?

Ayman al-Zawahri, second in command to Osama bin Laden, made an appearance in a video tape on Thursday, calling for

Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Israel and join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza until Islam reigns from "Spain to Iraq."

Over at The Corner, Jonah Goldberg asks that if a Holy War is being called for against Israel only now--what was going on between the Arab World and Israel till this point?

Then there is the other question:

Also, if al Qaeda wasn't already at maximum hostility to Israel, some of these "it's all about Israel" types need to account for that. I thought Israel was the Mother of All Root Causes for 9/11. If al Qaeda is only now focusing on Israel, maybe there was something else going on all along.

There was, but to admit that would mean recognizing the magnitude of the Islamist threat--something the West is still not ready to do.

One thing that Zawahri says that seems odd:

"We cannot just watch these shells as they burn our brothers in Gaza and Lebanon and stand by idly, humiliated," he added.

And in Saudi Arabia:

The atrocities being committed in Lebanon once again provide us in the Arab world a superfluous, all too frequent and unnecessary reminder of the fact that our blood is cheap. As if Iraq wasn’t enough to prove to us our irrelevance in the global picture, further insults are being heaped onto our mounting sense of humiliation.

Is it just me or does it seem that historically they use the humiliation/victim theme alot--rumors about the Koran being flushed down toilets, Mohammed being vilified, holy sites being dishonored: all in order to energize the masses; usually ending in violence.

The Arabs have a history of achievement of which they are proud.
Pity they cannot respect the history--and lives--of others.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Islamists and Jihad and Zawahri.