Osama bin Laden is back in the news and on our minds – though from the latter he never REALLY departed. In a new audio message, he claims responsibility for the Christmas day airline attack.
The short recorded message was carried by the Al-Jazeera news channel. Bin Laden addressed U.S. president Barack Obama:

“The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by the heroes of the September 11…America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine…God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support to the Israelis will continue.”

There was no way to confirm that the voice on the recording was actually that of bin Laden, but it resembled previous recordings claiming to be the voice of the terrorist mastermind.

The Nigerian national Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight as it approached Detroit Metro Airport, on Christmas day. The attempt was botched when the bomb he was hiding in his underwear failed to detonate. Afterward, he told federal agents that he had been trained and instructed by al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.

Analysts believe that bin Laden is concerned about Obama’s growing popularity across the Middle East, so the al-Qaida leader is focusing on the close US-Israeli relationship. This is certainly not the first time that he has mentioned the Palestinians.

Foreign Ministry spokesman, Andy David, dismissed the latest al-Qaida message and its attempt to connect Israel with attacks on the U.S:

“This is nothing new, he has said this before. Terrorists always look for absurd excuses for their despicable deeds.”