Beliefs and Ideology of Osama Bin Laden - Jews, Christians, and Shia Muslims

Jews, Christians, and Shia Muslims

Bin Laden was profoundly anti-Semitic, and delivered many warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next." He has also made at least one clear denunciation of Americans, but bin Laden held generally a favorable few of Arab Christians: "Every Muslim, from the moment they realize the distinction in their hearts, hates American, hates Jews, and hates Israelis. This is a part of our belief and our religion." At the same time, bin Laden's organization worked with Shia Militants. And, was apparently inspired by the Shia radicalism such as the 1979 Iranian Revolution, implementation of Sharia by Ayatollah Khomeini, and the human wave attacks committed by radical Shia teenagers during the 1980s Iran-Iraq War. While in Sudan, "senior managers in al Qaeda maintained contacts with" Shia Iran and Hezbollah, its closely allied Shia "worldwide terrorist organization. ... Al Qaeda members received advice and training from Hezbollah." where they are thought to have borrowed the techniques of suicide and simultaneous bombing. Because of the Shia-Wahhabi enmity, this collaboration could only go so far. Iran was rebuffed when it tried to strengthen relations with al Qaeda after the October 2000 attack on USS Cole, "because Bin Laden did not want to alienate his supporters in Saudi Arabia."