SITE via AFP - Getty Images

This image from video obtained from the SITE Intelligence Group on Wednesday shows U.S. hostage Warren Weinstein. SITE reported in a statement that in the video, released by al-Qaida's media arm, Weinstein appeals to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene on his behalf and to work with al-Qaida to accept their demands for his release.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A U.S. aid worker held by al-Qaida in Pakistan for more than a year has appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help meet the demands of his captors and secure his release, a group that monitors Islamist websites said Wednesday. 

Hostage Warren Weinstein said U.S. President Barack Obama had shown no interest in his case and had failed to respond or accept al-Qaida's demands, the SITE monitoring service said. 

"Therefore, as a Jew, I am appealing to you, Prime Minister Netanyahu, the head of the Jewish State of Israel, as one Jew to another, to please intervene on my behalf, to work with the mujahideen and to accept their demands so that I can be released and returned to my family, see my wife, my children and my grandchildren again," SITE quoted Weinstein as saying in a video released by al-Qaida. 

Weinstein, who was kidnapped in the central Pakistani city of Lahore in August 2011, pleaded with Obama in a similar recording in May, saying his life was in the president's hands. 

Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in December the group was responsible for Weinstein's abduction and demanded the release of all those in U.S. detention for ties to his Islamist militant group or the Taliban. 

He also demanded an end to airstrikes by the United States and its allies against militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia and Gaza. 

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Updated at 1:20 p.m. ET: ISLAMABAD -- An American aid worker abducted by al-Qaida in Pakistan last year pleaded with President Barack Obama to meet his captors' demands for the release of prisoners. 

The SITE monitoring service, which follows al-Qaida's statements, quoted Warren Weinstein, who was kidnapped in the central Pakistani city of Lahore last August, appealing to Obama directly. 

"My life is in your hands, Mr. President. If you accept the demands, I live; if you don't accept the demands, then I die," it quoted Weinstein as saying in the video.

The video was posted on Islamist websites on Sunday. It is the first time Weinstein has been seen since being seized by gunmen.

Weinstein appears dressed in a clean, neatly pressed shalwar kameez -- the country's traditional dress -- and is shown seated a table with a stack a books and two large plates of food before him. He occasionally takes bites of the food as he delivers his message.

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Weinstein had lived and worked in Pakistan for more than five years before being snatched.

His kidnapping puzzled many who knew him. Friends said Weinstein had gone to great lengths to learn and adopt local customs, even learning to speak some Urdu.

Senior Taliban commanders told NBC News that Pakistani Taliban members were responsible for Weinstein's kidnapping and that they had shifted him from place to place for three months until they reached a location they considered "secure" in the country's tribal areas.

Heart condition
A news report in January quoted a "ranking Pakistani militant" who claimed to have seen Weinstein in December 2011. The source claimed Weinstein was in good health, receiving regular medical treatment and prescription medicines.

A former colleague of Weinstein's told NBC News Weinstein's health had been deteriorating in the months before his kidnapping, and he suffered from a heart condition he was managing with medication and diet.

Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in an audio recording in December that the group was responsible for Weinstein's abduction and demanded the release of all those in U.S. detention for ties his Islamist militant group or the Taliban. 

He also demanded an end to airstrikes by the United States and its allies against militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia and Gaza. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

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