November 20, 2008 | 6:55 pm

Al Qaeda No. 2 criticizes Obama for praying with Jews

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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From JTA:

An al-Qaida online message mocks U.S. President-elect Barack Obama for praying with Jews.

The audio message, by Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s deputy, appears against a backdrop of Malcolm X, the slain 1960s Muslim black leader, and Obama wearing a kipah, praying with a group of Jews.

“You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America,” al-Zawahri says. “And so you promised to back Israel, and you threatened to strike the tribal regions in Pakistan, and to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, in order for the crimes of the American Crusade in it to continue.”

The message also uses a racial epithet to describe Obama.

That epithet, according to the AP, which al-Zawahri also used to refer to Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice, was “house slaves.” That Ayman—he’s a real charmer. The chief thrust of his audio message was that Obama does not represent change for U.S. foreign policy, and that Muslims and Arabs shouldn’t think it does:

“America has put on a new face, but its heart full of hate, mind drowning in greed, and spirit which spreads evil, murder, repression and despotism continue to be the same as always.”