Hours before US President Donald Trump announced the terms
of his "peace plan" between Israel and Palestine, ISIS spokesperson
Abu Hamza al-Qurashi released a new audio recording. So is there a relationship
between these two important events in the Middle East, and what is behind their
synchronization?
On January 27, Abu Hamza al-Qurashi said in the
organization’s latest audio recording the caliphate’s eyes are still directed
towards Jerusalem. He noted that the coming stage will witness an
intensification of targeting Israelis and forcibly retaking occupied lands,
calling for thwarting the American plan for Palestine and Israel.
Hours later, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu announced the terms of the US plan to solve the most famous issue in
the Middle East, in what is known in the media as the "deal of the
century", which includes all of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,
alongside a Palestinian state that rejects terrorism, as well as some other
understandings.
Accordingly, it is clear that there are two issues, the first of which is the consecutiveness of the release of the ISIS recording and the announcement of Washington’s proposal, especially since the terrorist organization was first, which came as a hidden prelude to the latter. The second issue is that President Trump linked the new Palestinian state with the absence of terrorism, which means that any form of opposition to the recent political decisions is likely to be classified as extremist.
Here a question arises about what the motives are behind ISIS’s recording calling for an assault on Israel. Recognizing that ISIS movements in particular are always linked to a political tactic based on the situational context, it is likely that the organization is relying on the release of the recording as an preface to justify any official military attack against any condemnation of the latest political decision and to allow more room to attach terror charges to the Palestinian blocs if they object to the recent deal.
But in light of the media gain from the news boom of the American story on social media, it is likely that the organization wanted to invest the political situation to further promote its presence in light of its sluggish operations and the large number of losses, in addition to giving its activities an Islamic character by inserting the Palestinian cause and Jerusalem in its discourse.
However, it is necessary not to lose sight of the fact that terrorist groups, especially ISIS, have not been targeting any Israeli targets since Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the establishment of the organization in 2014. Instead, the organization chose to target Egyptian soldiers, not Israelis, suggesting that the Palestinian cause would only be used to solicit emotions and ensure mobilization.
Some argue that ISIS, according to the seven stages of global empowerment, is keeping Israel for its end goal, aiming to first topple Arab regimes and American interests in the region and then attack Israel in the final stage of its attempt at world dominion. This was expressed by Brian Fishman in his important book "The Master Plan: ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the Jihadi Strategy for Final Victory".
Demonizing Palestinian resistance
To discuss the aforementioned theses, the Reference contacted the head of the Palestinian independence movement, Muhammad Abu Samra, who denounced the latest version of ISIS, affirming that it was merely an Israeli fabrication in order to tell the world that any possible Palestinian resistance operation would be carried out by ISIS.
This is aimed at demonizing the Palestinian resistance and branding it with terrorism, Abu Samra said, adding that ISIS is an American, Israeli and Western industry, pointing out that the world witnessed the treatment of ISIS elements that sabotaged Syria in Israeli hospitals. He therefore believes that ISIS is only serving Washington and Tel Aviv.
