Before anything else, let us take a moment to remember that Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who is now a 70 year old man, is still alive. Having taken over as the terror head of Al-Qaeda in the aftermath of Osama Bin Laden’s death, the dreaded terrorist operates in silos around the world, meant to conceal the ghastly horror created by man, one opposed to man himself. According to some, he was seen in Indonesia. Then, some say, in Pakistan, and then, according to many others, somewhere in between the wild alleys of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
That being said, what’s of even greater importance than the last-known sighting of Al Qaeda supremo, that’s often remained under the radar since much of the focus, of late, has been on the likes of Boko Haram and ISIS, is what the dreaded group was planning to do in Israel.
This narrative gets a particularly caustic and pivotal edge once seen from the prism of the 9/11 terror attacks.
A Terrorist organization fighting supposedly the righteous war, constantly at loggerheads, with the Jewish state?
To those who say that a Muslim and a Jew cannot ever be friends or share a common space of land under the sun here on God’s cherished, rather ruined earth, given the bloodied conflicts of this century, truth points to just the opposite.
Especially when you see how Jews and Muslims have lived in peace in countries that both are neutral or friendly with, think India. How many Jewish uprisings versus the Muslims have taken place as full-scale fights loaded with supposedly unlimited ammo between the two fighting sects?
But nonetheless, while Israel will always have to sleep as a lion with one eye awakened, the Muslim brotherhood, not only in its immediate geographical proximity but also in the wider parts of the world, shall continue to furnish vengeance upon the Jewish state.
What was once a territorial dispute that was attempted to have been sorted through means like the Oslo Accords has now ballooned into a full-scale conflict triggered by unending streaks of violence and the one factor that’s missing on both sides- compassion and tolerance; a greater ground for understanding between the two fighting forces.
Things have reached to a point where one just doesn’t know when might Al Qaeda or any of its cohorts or fighting bandits will level an ultra-destructive attack on Israel, a country that many, to this day, believe had intelligence about the purported 9/11 attacks.
Intelligence that was perhaps shared and still ignored by the American authorities or intelligence that could’ve stopped a catastrophe that mauled an entire world.
Albeit like those who to their graves a lot many secrets, we might never get to the bottom of this one.
In fact, where recent reports point then it’s believed that Al Qaeda were up to something massive and fishy in Israel in the post 9/11 world.
So what was this all about?
Well, apparently, the terrorist outfit was trying to carry out massive strikes in several Israeli nightclubs in the aftermath of the 9/11 American strikes. These attacks, reports suggests, were to have been carried out in 2002, as per the plans of the organization.
But the interesting point is that even as Al Qaeda were close to executing its ‘vision,’ the attacks were thwarted by the help of American intelligence organisations.
And just where did the world, at present, get this information from? In 2002, it is believed, one of the key figures of the Al Qaeda terror network, Abu Zubaydah was nabbed by the Americans from Pakistan and taken straight to the CIA site. It’s there where the dreadful terrorist revealed the plot against Israel.
So this is how the entire operation was foiled and Israel averted what could’ve been a massive tragedy.