Cairo, Egypt ? In a tape that surfaced Sunday, Osama bin Laden’s deputy urged all Muslims to take up arms, saying a refusal to join the fight against “the Cross and Zionism” was a “malignant illness” that would lead to the defeat of militant Islam.

Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri said the global Islamic community had “no hope for victory” until all Muslims signed on to the al-Qaida-led jihad.

“As long as this malignant illness continues to survive within us, there is no hope for victory and there can only be more defeats, tragedies, disasters and betrayals,” al-Zawahri said.

His comments were contained in a 48-minute tape entitled “Impediments to Jihad.” The video portion of the tape was a still photo of a white-turbaned al-Zawahri.

The tape was believed to have been made at about the same time as a Sept. 19 video attributed to al-Zawahri, according to Ben Venzke, chief executive of IntelCenter, a U.S. government contractor that obtained the tape.

It was impossible to immediately verify the authenticity of the tape.