Bill Gertz of The Washington Times reports that "al-Qaeda obviously can't take a joke, since an Islamic online forum contained assassination talk about that "Zionist" David Letterman, the CBS late-night host, for making "on-air jokes about the killing of Osama bin Laden." (He was denounced as a "sick Jew," but Letterman is not Jewish.) They wanted his tongue cut out.
While the threat may not be unusual, what is surprising to observers is that al Qaeda terrorists are spending time watching the funnyman on the CBS show “Late Night.”
Mr. Letterman, like most other comedians, frequently pokes the terrorist group and its leaders behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed 3,000 people.
A posting Tuesday on the Arabic website Shumukh al-Islam Network, an al Qaeda-affiliated forum, quoted a terrorist named Amr Basrawi as denouncing Mr. Letterman as an “American Zionist.” It urged someone in America to follow the example of El Sayyid Nosair, the imprisoned assassin of Jewish Defense League Founder Rabbi Meir Kahane and “silence” Mr. Letterman by using terrorist methods.
“This noxious creature mocked the leaders of the mujahidin, and at their head Shaykh Osama bin Laden,” stated the posting translated by the U.S. government.
William Donohue of the Catholic League suggested this would be a good time for Letterman to ponder his religious humor about Catholics as well. He suggested Letterman could issue a statement saying (in part) "Just because Catholics don't threaten to cut off my tongue, break my neck, or put a hit on me, doesn't mean I shouldn't respect their religion. Ethics alone demands they be treated like, say, Muslims."
