Al-Qaida condemns Trump's Jerusalem move, calls for action
Addressing Islamist militants, the group called on them to close ranks to be ready to support Palestinians and urged Muslims to help with money and weapons.
By AHMED TOLBA/REUTERSUpdated: DECEMBER 8, 2017 01:18After signing, US President Donald Trump holds up the proclamation that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will move its embassy there, during an address from the White House in Washington, US, December 6, 2017.(photo credit: REUTERS)
DUBAI - Islamist militant group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has condemned the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and called on militants to close ranks to support Palestinians.US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reversed decades of US policy and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.In the statement carried by the US SITE monitoring group, the Yemen-based AQAP said Trump's decision was the result of what it said were "normalization steps" between some Gulf Arab countries and Israel."It is also a clear challenge to the Muslim world that sees the centrality of the Palestinian cause," the group said. "In the face of this serious events, we stand by our people in Palestine and support them with all we possess."Addressing Islamist militants, the group called on them to close ranks to be ready to support Palestinians and urged Muslims to help with money and weapons."If you do not move, God forbid, then tomorrow the holiest of places and the Muslims' Qiblah, Mecca, will be sold and you will find then no one to defend it," it said.The AQAP, which was formed in 2009 by the merger of al-Qaida's Saudi and Yemeni branches, is regarded by the United States as one of the most dangerous groups of the network founded by Osama bin Laden.The United States has repeatedly carried out drone strikes on members and leaders of the group, which makes remote areas in southern Yemen as its main base
