Just weeks after the National Security Council's Counterterrorism Division issued a rare travel warning for Israelis planning to visit Turkey, Israel Hayom has learned that a terrorism plot that was to take place against Israeli targets in Turkey was successfully foiled.
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Israeli military censors allowed the publication of limited information on the Israeli effort, but from what is currently known, Israel's security agencies frustrated the Iranian-led plot in May, although it is unclear what assets were used.
Israeli officials have recently contacted their Turkish counterparts and warned that Iran was working on such an attack and prompted them to act on this information, amidIranian threats to attack Israeli institutions and civilians around the world over alleged Israeli activities to thwart Iran's nuclear program.
The Farsi-language website of the Fars news agency, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, even put out a list of Israelis "who should go into hiding." The site claimed to have found "internal information" about "sabotage and assassinations of opposition leaders."
These included the former head of IDF Military Intelligence Directorate Amos Malka, as well as several other Israeli figures who supposedly acted on behalf of Israel's intelligence apparatus during their military service and are now involved in cyber warfare. Fars also ran their pictures, which were apparently taken off the internet, but the article appears to have entailed some research.
The warning from the National Security Council read: "For some weeks, especially since Iran accused Israel of the death of Quds Force commander Col. Hassan Sayad Khodaei last week, there has been growing concern about Iranian attempts to attack Israeli targets around the world."
Israel's defense establishment has accordingly stepped up the warning for Israelis in Turkey, in particular, and is seeking to underscore that it is a dangerous country for Israelis.
Security officials said that the advisory was issued based on a concrete threat to Israelis in and around Turkey. There is also a growing risk to Israelis visiting the countries that border Iran, and Israelis there are being asked to stay alert and exercise caution.
Just days after Khodaei was assassinated IRGC Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami repeated on Monday the explicit accusation that Israel was responsible for killing the official, who was reportedly in charge of carrying out Iranian assassination missions abroad.
Speaking at a meeting of IRGC commanders and Khodaei's relatives in Tehran, Salami said, "The shahid [martyr] Khodaeihas earned very high credit because he was murdered by the most evil people in the world, Zionists. With the help of Allah, we will continue in the shahid's path and avenge his death."
The IRGC commander told Khodaei's family that a few days earlier he had traveled to the holy city of Qom, where he heard people calling "to avenge the death of the shahid Khodaei."
"At his funeral, too, the entire people were calling to avenge the blessed blood of the shahid," Salami added.
Khodaei was reportedly in charge of the Quds Force's 840 Unit, a cell that carried out assassinations, including of Iranian dissidents on European soil.
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