Tel Aviv is also Muslim land, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in a recording released on Sunday, one day before the planned opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who in December reversed decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, has sent a delegation including his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner – both White House advisers – to Monday's opening ceremony.
Trump's decision to move the embassy has enraged Palestinians, who want east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, to be the capital of their own future state. The status of the city – home to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites – is one of the biggest obstacles to reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Trump says he is making good on U.S. legislation and presidential pledges dating back decades.
In a message lasting four minutes and 43 seconds posted on a social media channel used by the Islamist militant group, Zawahri said all Muslim countries have effectively recognized Israel by signing the United Nations charter that calls for respecting the territorial integrity of every member state, including Israel.
"Many have even established public or secret relations with Israel and accepted that Tel Aviv or West Jerusalem be the capital of Israel, even though it is also Muslim land that cannot be ceded to Jews," Zawahri said.
The authenticity of the recording could not immediately be verified.
Zawahri's last public message was issued in February, when he called on Egyptians to topple their government ahead of the March presidential elections there that gave President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi a second term in office.
