Today, Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid urged Israeli citizens in Turkey to return “as soon as possible” amid recent threats from Iran against Israelis.
The warning came amid rising tensions between sworn enemies Iran and Israel as Tehran accused the Jewish state of a series of attacks on its nuclear and military infrastructure both inside Iran and in Syria.
Lapid did not mention any Israeli operations against Iranian targets. But he said Israelis in Turkey face “real and immediate danger” from Iranian agents, “reporting “several attempts by Iran to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis holidaying in Istanbul.”
Lapid urged his fellow citizens in Turkey to “return to Israel as soon as possible.”
“There is a future,” he added during a meeting with MPs from his Yesh Atid party. – If you have planned a trip to Istanbul, cancel it. No vacation is worth (paying) your life” for him.
The Foreign Minister urged Israelis “never to travel to Turkey” unless the trip is “necessary”.
Hours after his announcement, Israel’s National Security Council announced that it had raised its Istanbul travel warning to its highest level.
“Given the continuing nature of the threat and the growing intention of Iran to attack Israelis in Turkey, especially in Istanbul, the National Security Council has raised the Istanbul travel warning level to the highest level: level four,” the National Security Council said in a statement. statement.
Iran has accused Israel of complicity in the assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Colonel Sayyad Khodai, who was gunned down May 22 in his car near his home in eastern Tehran, official media reported. The Revolutionary Guards described him as one of the “defenders of the shrines (defenders of the shrines)” – a term used to refer to its members who have carried out missions in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. He vowed to avenge his murder on the “Zionists”.
Tehran also blamed Israel for last week’s airstrikes on Damascus International Airport, which badly damaged two runways at an airport south of the Syrian capital.
Sources said the fire broke out at Iranian-linked militia facilities, including Hezbollah, near Damascus International Airport.
thwart the conspiracy
Israel rarely commented on individual strikes, but admitted it had carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria that the IDF says are necessary to prevent Iran from gaining a foothold on its border.
Lapid said some Israelis who had recently been to Turkey returned “not knowing their lives had been spared.”
He claimed that would-be attackers sought to target Israeli citizens “in order to kidnap or kill them.”
Earlier Monday, Israeli Public Radio (Kan) reported that Iranian agents planned to kidnap Israelis in Turkey a month ago. The plot was thwarted after Israel warned Ankara of the threat.
“I would like to thank the Turkish government for its efforts to protect the lives of Israeli citizens,” Lapid said in a statement, but did not elaborate.
Turkey has long been a popular holiday destination for Israelis, including more than a decade of diplomatic disagreements between the two countries.
Ankara and Israel have repaired relations in recent months, while senior Turkish leaders have pointed to Israel’s importance to Turkey’s tourism sector.
On Monday, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted an unnamed security official as saying that several Iranian “cells” were planning operations against Israeli tourists in Turkey.
Lapid sent a message to the Iranians saying, “Those who harm the Israelis will pay the price and we will pursue them everywhere.”
