JERUSALEM (JTA) — In a new audiotape broadcast on Al Jazeera, a voice purported to be Osama bin Laden criticizes President Obama for "increasing animosity toward Muslims."
The tape was broadcast late Wednesday, just hours before the U.S. president arrived in Cairo to deliver a major message to Muslims during a Thursday speech from Cairo University.
U.S. security officials have not yet authenticated the tape. It comes a day after another audiotape condemning Obama was released by Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden’s right-hand man.
The speaker focuses on the situation in Pakistan, where the military has fought to control the Taliban, displacing up to 3 million people in the conflict.
“Obama has followed the footsteps of his predecessor in increasing animosity toward Muslims and increasing enemy fighters and establishing long-term wars. So the American people should get ready to reap the fruits of what the leaders of the White House have planted throughout the coming years and decades,” the speaker threatened.
It is the first tape claiming to be from bin Laden since January, released during Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and the waning days of President George W. Bush’s term in office.
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