The Mossad helped Greece crack an Iranian terror cell, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday night.
The spy agency said that it had assisted Greece with analyzing and taking apart Iran’s operating procedures to solve the puzzle of the underlying crimes and method of operation of the terror organization involved.
Earlier Tuesday, Greek police disrupted what they called a foreign terrorist network operating within the country and arrested two foreign nationals.
According to both the Mossad and AFP, the terrorists were plotting to attack Israelis in Greece.
“This is another example of Iran trying to use terror against Israeli and Jewish targets overseas.”
The Mossad
“This is another example of Iran trying to use terror against Israeli and Jewish targets overseas,” said the Mossad.
It also helped identify the connection between the local terror cell in Greece and Iran’s broader global terror operations.
According to the reports, the terrorists were two Pakistani nationals, with a third operative suspected of being located in Iran. The Iran-based operative had reportedly urged them to carry out the attack and said they would be paid.
אני מודה לממשלת יוון ולשירות המודיעין והביטחון היווני על סיכול פיגוע הטרור נגד מטרות יהודיות וישראליות. הטרור הוא אויב משותף והמאבק בו עומד בראש סדר העדיפויות שלנו. ממשל האייטולות מטהרן מייצא טרור למזה"ת ולעולם כולו ורק עמידה איתנה ומשותפת תעצור את פעילות הטרור של המשטר האיראני
— אלי כהן | Eli Cohen (@elicoh1) March 28, 2023
Terrorists planned an attack on Jewish synagogue in Athens
The terrorists planned to strike a target of “high symbolic value”: A Jewish synagogue, which also functions as a restaurant, located in the center of Athens, Greek media reported.
According to the reports, the terrorists were two Pakistani nationals, with a third operative suspected of being located in Iran. The Iran-based operative had reportedly urged them to carry out the attack and said they would be paid.
According to a report in the Greek daily Kathimerini, the terrorists planned to attack with a gas cylinder explosive, being unable to find firearms.
According to Greek media reports cited by Israel’s KAN public broadcaster, the terrorists also planned on kidnapping some of the targets.
Previous attempted terror attacks by Pakistani nationals against Jews in the region
This is not the first time Pakistani nationals have been caught in an attempted attack on Jewish targets in the region.
Greek media referred to 2021, when Pakistanis were arrested in Cyprus in a planned attack on an Israeli, with reference to businessman Teddy Sagi.
The same reports also noted that in 2022, Pakistani nationals were involved in an attempted attack on an Israeli in Istanbul, Turkey.
It was unclear if Greek media were referring to the September 2022 joint Turkey-Mossad operation which saved the lives of a large number of Israeli tourists.
In that incident, Iran planned to kidnap several Israeli tourists along with diplomats in Istanbul, including the former ambassador and his wife, and already had all operatives and logistical aspects of the operation in place – with some Israelis being spirited away just moments before a hit team would have been bearing down on them.
Turkish intelligence and local police arrested about 10 suspects, including sharpshooters and local collaborators, at the Sol Hotel and three other rented apartments in the Istanbul area.
Iranian intelligence assets and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps operatives impersonated students, businessmen and tourists in order to entrap the Israelis.
Iranian intelligence assets and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps operatives impersonated students, businessmen and tourists in order to entrap the Israelis.
Turkey said that the Mossad located the targeted Israelis and flew them to Israel in private planes.
While the Mossad had noted the dangers and given Ankara time initially to handle the issue alone, counterintelligence operations were ultimately carried out in cooperation between the Mossad and Turkish authorities, whom then-prime minister Naftali Bennett praised.
“The operational efforts with the Turkish security forces have borne fruit,” Bennett said in a press briefing. “In recent days, in a joint Israeli-Turkish effort, we thwarted a number of terrorist attempts, and numerous terrorists were arrested on Turkish ground.”
Seemingly right after the success of Mossad and Turkish intelligence efforts at saving Israelis in Turkey, Iran dismissed the powerful chief of IRGC intelligence, Hossein Taeb.
The station gave no further details about the dismissal of Taeb, who had a long reign as IRGC intelligence chief dating back to 2009.
Following this, the Greek Foreign Ministry reportedly placed members of the Pakistani community suspected of radical activity under surveillance all over the country, which is what enabled Greek police to catch wind of this planned attack, Kathimerini reported.
Greece was included on a list of countries with travel warnings issued by the National Security Council ahead of Passover, a major Israeli vacation holiday.
According to the NSC report, the main generator of global terrorism, especially facing Israelis abroad, is Iran, with the report saying they expect the Islamic Republic to continue “working to promote damage to Israeli and Jewish targets around the world.”
Countries at a higher risk of experiencing potential Iranian attacks include the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bahrain and Cyprus, according to the National Security Council.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that the thwarting of the attacks “provides further proof of the excellence and professionalism of Israeli intelligence, as well as the importance of international cooperation in the fight against terror and those who carry it out.”
Gallant reiterated that the Mossad and other Israeli intelligence bodies will continue to ensure that “any place that Iran wishes to attack our citizens, it will be met with force.”