Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday accused Iran and Hezbollah of carrying out Monday's terror attacks in India and Georgia saying they were "intent on sabotaging the Israeli way of life and operating against Israelis all over the world."
Speaking during a state visit to Singapore, Barak added that Israel must be at the forefront of fighting terror and continue to prepare for the challenges it faces as Iran and Hezbollah seek Israeli victims.
Within hours of Monday’s attacks in Tbilisi and New Delhi, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu placed the
blame squarely on Tehran, saying Israel would continue to “systematically and
with patience use a strong arm” against international terrorism originating from
Iran.
Tal Yehoshua-Koren, the wife of a diplomat stationed in New
Delhi, was moderately wounded there, along with her driver and two
passersby. In Georgia, no one was injured when the bomb under the car of
a local embassy employee was discovered and neutralized.
Netanyahu said
Iran, and its proxy Hezbollah, was responsible for a string of attempted attacks
against Israeli and Jewish targets abroad in recent months, including in
Thailand and Azerbaijan. In each of the previous cases, the local
authorities attacks helped thwart the attacks, he said.
“Iran, which is
behind these attacks, is the biggest exporter of terrorism in the world,” the
prime minister said. “The Israeli government and its security forces will
continue to work together with local security services against these terrorist
actions.”
Israel raised the level of alert at all of its embassies and consulates overseas following the coordinated attacks.
Tehran, meanwhile, denied any responsibility for the attacks,
with Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast saying it was another
phase in Israel’s “psychological war” against the Islamic
Republic.
Iran’s official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying that
Israel itself was behind the attacks to “tarnish Iran’s friendly ties” with
Georgia and India.
Herb Keinon and Yaakov Katz contributed to this report.
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