Israel as an al-Qaeda Target: Sorting Rhetoric from Reality

Since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is perhaps the single most animating regional conflict for many Arabs and Muslims, its resonance provides al-Qaeda with a powerful rhetorical tool for radicalization, recruitment, and fundraising. Matthew Levitt's article shows how al-Qaeda has always been interested in the Palestinian issue, demonstrates the gap between al-Qaeda's rhetoric and its operations targeting Israel, and finally identifies the few attacks that al-Qaeda has conducted against Israel and Jewish targets.

Matthew Levitt is a senior fellow and director of The Washington Institute's Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.