Israel has asked security forces around the world, including in Cyprus and
Greece, to increase protection for Israeli tourists ahead of the High Holy
Days.
The request has gone out to police and governments in additional
countries such as Thailand, where large numbers of Israelis are set to visit in
the coming weeks.
“We’ve identified a continuation of the Iranian global
campaign to launch terror attacks on Israelis,” a defense source said on
Wednesday.
“Masses of Israelis will head abroad,” the source
added.
There are no concrete intelligence tip offs on impending attacks,
other than in the Sinai Peninsula, but the Israeli defense community says that
the deadly terrorist atrocity in Bulgaria, in which five Israelis and a local
bus driver were murdered by a suicide bomber, does not mark the end of the
Iranian-led terror campaign.
“The ongoing wave of terror began with
official state symbols,” the source said, referring to botched terror attacks on
Israeli targets in February of this year, in India, Thailand and Georgia, “They
then targeted soft targets, tourists,” the source added.
“The campaign is
being led by Iran, with Hezbollah acting as its proxy,” the source
said.
Israeli embassies around the world have received security updates,
while venues that host large numbers of Israelis are also seeing stepped up
security.
“We’re sending messages to every country hosting Israeli
tourists,” the source added. “It is very disturbing to see Iran, as a terrorist
state, wage this determined campaign,” he said.
Iran’s Quds force,
together with Hezbollah and other proxies and middlemen are all involved in the
effort to pull off additional terror attacks, according to security evaluations.