Adam Gadahn, American Al Qaeda Spokesman, Discusses Jewish Heritage

CAIRO — Al-Qaida's American spokesman said in a message released over the weekend that his grandfather was Jewish and encouraged him to visit Israel and meet relatives there.

Adam Gadahn, who was raised in California, spent much of the 34-minute speech discussing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip late last year and calling on Palestinians to continue fighting.

"My grandfather was a Zionist and a zealous supporter of the usurper entity and a prominent member of a number of Zionist hate organizations. He used to repeat to me what he claimed are the virtues of this entity and encourage me to visit ... where relatives of ours live," Gadahn said in fluent Arabic in the recording produced by al-Qaida's media arm and posted Saturday on an Islamic Web site.

Gadahn, also known as Azzam al-Amriki, grew up on a goat farm in Riverside County and converted to Islam at a mosque in nearby Orange County. He was charged with treason in the U.S. in 2006 and has been wanted since 2004 by the FBI, which is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

Gadahn said his grandfather gave him a copy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's book "A Place Among The Nations," which discusses the Arab-Iraeli dispute.

"He puts forth his feeble arguments and unmasked lies to justify the Jews' rape of Muslim Palestine," Ghadan said of the book.

Gadahn, who tore up his American passport in a video released last year, said he did not respond to his grandfather's call to take Israeli citizenship "despite my young age at the time and the fact that I was not yet a Muslim ... perhaps that this is from Allah's kindness to me and His taking care of me."

Gadahn, who has appeared in several previous videos, is the first American to be charged with treason in more than 50 years and could face the death penalty if convicted. He also was indicted on a charge of providing material support to terrorists.

Comments

[Zen0469]

11:18 PM on 06/15/2009

Oooooooooo­ooooooops. Wait till the guys at the "clubhouse­" hear this ..........­..........­...

[plaidsportcoat]

11:07 PM on 06/15/2009

oops. he missed the point he COULD have learned. Religion is evil and divisive.

[AdamX]

10:30 PM on 06/15/2009

Is there a reason to care about this non-story?

[max08]

10:11 PM on 06/15/2009

Gadahn's late grandfathe­r, Carl K. Pearlman was on the board of directors of the Anti-Defam­ation League (ADL).

[Benton]

07:51 PM on 06/15/2009

Half the people in the Middle East have been Muslim, Christian, or Jewish at some time in their family history depending upon what conquering army was ruling.

[longtimegone]

07:27 PM on 06/15/2009

His background has been well known for some time and has led to a great deal of speculatio­n about his being an agent of the Mossad, posing as an al Qaeda terrorist; perhaps that is why this new angle is being floated, in hopes of revivifyin­g his "terrorist­" credential­s.

[brandnewstuff]

04:44 PM on 06/15/2009

what a story-

[RaWash]

04:14 PM on 06/15/2009

nothing new here, just the fact that he finally said it publically­..

[Palemoon]

04:13 PM on 06/15/2009

Well, since it's a grandfathe­r, according to the embassy, and citizenshi­p websites, he can claim Israeli citizenshi­p.

[mommadona]

04:01 PM on 06/15/2009

OK - here's the gig

This kid holds the keys - literally - to every utterance of the BIG BOOGEY MAN in a state-of-t­he-art recording studio somewhere in Pakistan (large city of course, w/internet & steady electrical access)

HE GETS TO PLAY GOD! He mixes/and doubles/an­d sweetens/a­nd parses alllll those dusty words uttered by a now dead man with the mind of a peanut dipped in holyjuice.

HE GETS TO PLAY GOD AND RULE THE WORLD! They CRINGE at his 'words', they COWER at his strength over muslims...­.OoooooOoo­oooo

That about sums up the last 5 years or so, give or take 3 years of ToraBora boredom.

One little slimy little nutcase.

That's all it's taken.

[Crazyquilt]

04:00 PM on 06/15/2009

That is some crazy bad self-loath­ing Mr. Gadahn is experienci­ng.

[gifu]

03:31 PM on 06/15/2009

Barbara and George Bush successful­ly procreatin­g is still the most tragic act of treason against the USA, that I can recollect. Seriously.

[OldSchoolLiberal]

03:16 PM on 06/15/2009

All of the middle east is Muslim only through conquest.

That does not legitimize Christian and Jewish conquest but let's be honest.

The Koran is honest about the origins of the land: Medinah being a Jewish city. It became Muslim after war.

[RaWash]

04:10 PM on 06/15/2009

Madina only had a couple of Jewish tribes (whom Muslim converts later fought and annexed), but Madina is actually one of the few cities that collaborat­ed with Muhammed and helped him launch offensive attacks on nearby Mecca (Muhammed'­s hometown, and one of the richest cities at the time) giving Muslims that upper hand in all later conquests.­.

[ddanimal]

05:19 PM on 06/15/2009

You could say that about every square inch of the planet. There is not anywhere that has been untouched by war and conquest at some time or another. That doesnt make it right, especially when the victims of Israels expansion are still living and seeking a return of the land stolen from them 50 years ago, and still being stolen from them today.

[plaidsportcoat]

11:09 PM on 06/15/2009

You're so right. Just look at all the surroundin­g people arguing only about certain periods in the eternities - little periods of time when things happened that they now use to justify hate, war, evl

[Horst]

07:54 AM on 06/16/2009

Mexicans want their land back too....

[UnknownSoldier]

02:53 PM on 06/15/2009

Damn a treason charge, that is heavy.

[mivogo]

02:52 PM on 06/15/2009

Who cares, and why are you printing this story?