The National Security Council's Counterterrorism Bureau has raised its travel warning for Istanbul to 4, the highest level. A Level 4 travel warning means that Israelis should not travel to Istanbul, and any Israelis currently there should leave.
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Two weeks ago, the NSC reclassified the warning for Turkey in light of increased concerns about Iranian plans to attack Israelis. However, this is the first time in the latest round of geopolitical tension that the NSC has issued a travel warning for a specific city, and appears to point to Israel's intelligence apparatus having concrete intelligence about terrorist cells on the ground there.
News reports Sunday revealed that a month ago, the Mossad worked with Turkish security forces to thwart an attack that targeted Israelis.
While Istanbul is under the highest-level warning, other parts of Turkey are under a Level 3 warning, and the NSC is advising that Israelis avoid non-essential travel to all parts of Turkey.
Earlier Sunday, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid publicly called on Israelis to avoid travel to Turkey and urged any Israelis in the country to leave.
Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov has reached out to airlines and asked them to refund tickets to Turkey Israelis have purchased due to the travel warning.
"As you know, security concerns are forcing many Israelis to cancel the reservations for Turkey they have with you. Unfortunately, I am asking that you take the special circumstances into account and allow them to receive full refunds for canceled tickets, or transfer them to different destinations or reschedule for when the situation allows," Razvozov said.
The council said Israelis had no reason to avoid flights connecting through Turkey, as long as they do not leave the airport.
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Following the updated travel warning, the IDF has banned five competitive athletes serving in its ranks from taking part in the 2022 European Fencing Championships, which is taking place June 17-22 in Antalya.
The athletes were already making final preparations for the competition but on Tuesday morning were notified that "In light of the security situation, the trip to Turkey is cancelled."
The athletes will not be permitted to leave Israel.
The Israel Fencing Association said, "This is terrible for us, we've done all we can. These are important athletes, who are only now starting their bid for the Paris Olympics and some of them will be one the team."
