A new video posted on an Islamist website, depicts an al-Qaida leader calling for the assassination of Saudi Arabia's king because of his leading role in the Madrid Interfaith Conference. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia prepares to open the World Conference on Dialogue as in Madrid, Wednesday. The Saudi king sponsored a conference in Madrid earlier this month, which was attended by representatives of five large faiths: Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism.
During the Interfaith Conference, Abdallah called on the Muslim, Christian and Jewish participants to join him in a reconciliation effort, while rejecting the forces of "religious fanaticism."
In the past few years, al-Qaida has openly denounced the Saudi royal family for its cooperation with the United States.
A series of al-Qaida attacks on Saudi soil in 2003 and 2004, aimed at destabilizing US-Saudi relations. In May 2003, suicide bombers killed 34 people, including eight Americans, at a housing compound for Westerners. A year later, the organization attacked oil installations, taking foreign workers hostage and leaving 22 people dead, including an American. In June 2004, three American nationals were killed during a single week, and in December of that year, terrorists stormed the American consulate, killing five staff members.
Since then, the Saudi security authorities have launched multiple waves of arrests against people suspected of involvement in terrorist activities. Last year, an al-Qaida terror cell was caught and charged with planning a series of mega-terror attacks against Saudi gas and oil installations, aiming at bringing down the regime. A group member confessed they acted upon a religious decree issued by Osama Bin Ladin. They said they believed that by cutting off the oil and gas supply to the West, the American forces would have been lured into Saudi Arabia, where al-Qaida could then fight them directly.