DEBKA
Israel raised its terrorist warning in Turkey to the top level of 4 on June 13 over Iran’s latest kidnap-cum-murder plot, focusing on Istanbul. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid again called on Israeli tourists in Turkey to return home at once and trip planners to cancel their vacations. The warning came a month after Israeli and Turkish security foiled a previous Iranian plot against Israeli travelers.
In a broadcast warning on Monday, Lapid said: “If you are already in Istanbul, return to Israel as soon as possible. If you planned a trip to Istanbul — cancel it. No vacation is worth your lives.” He called the threat “real and immediate” and thanked the Turkish government for its efforts to protect Israeli visitors. Turkey is one of the top three favorite overseas resorts for Israelis.
The high terror alert followed the assassination of a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, which Iran blamed on Israel and swore to avenge. However, Israeli locations worldwide have long been on alert after previous Iranian plots were uncovered.
A group of Israeli tourists who went on vacation in Turkey recently have received a phone call from a senior member of the Israeli intelligence community instructing them to return to Israel immediately, Channel 13 News reported.
The official told the tourists that they could not even return to the hotel, as Iranian assassins were waiting for them at the hotel to murder them, and informed them that, at that moment, someone would be sent to take them to the Istanbul airport to return to Israel.
A friend of a woman who received the ominous warning told Channel 13 News: "On Friday afternoon, she was asked to stay exactly where she was, in the market area and in no uncertain terms not to return to the hotel. An armored vehicle arrived with ten Israeli security guards who accompanied them and travelled with them to the airport. They got on the flight, while all their luggage and belongings stayed at the hotel."
"When they landed in Israel they were taken straight to interrogation and asked who they had spoken to and where they had been. A real serious interrogation," the friend said. "And when they tried to figure out what had happened, it was explained to them that [the assassins] were just waiting for them at the hotel. She is in shock and unable to speak."
The defense establishment believes that there are Iranian squads scattered throughout Turkey, but the focus is on Istanbul, with an emphasis on Israeli tourists, so on Monday the Counter-Terrorism Bureau announced the travel warning level to Istanbul would be raised to Level 4, which is the highest level.
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