By Turgut Alp Boyraz
JERUSALEM
An Israeli security agency has warned that the "terrorism threat" against Israelis around the world has risen in the wake of Israel's recent military onslaught on the Gaza Strip, especially in Western Europe and Africa.
The Israeli National Security Council's counter-terrorism bureau released a travel advisory on Monday in which it asserted that "Western Europe may become the scene of Islamic State [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)] terror attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets."
"There is at this time an increasing potential threat as a result of the recent Operation Protective Edge [Israel's recent Gaza offensive], during which there were many demonstrations at Israeli embassies and consulates around the world," the advisory read.
According to the Israeli security agency, there has also been a rise in "anti-Semitic" incidents in the wake of the Gaza offensive.
"These trends are likely to continue during the holiday period [in September and October]," it added.
Israel's recent 51-day military offensive against Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip left some 2,147 Gazans dead and more than 11,000 injured – the vast majority of them civilians – while damaging or destroying thousands of residential structures across the territory.
According to Israeli figures, 67 Israeli soldiers and five civilians were killed over the course of the operation – the highest military death toll suffered by Israel since it lost 119 troops in its 2006 war on Lebanon.
Referring to a May 4 shooting attack on a Jewish Museum in Brussels, the counter-terrorism bureau stated: "There is concern over additional attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, especially in Western Europe, by global jihad elements," including ISIL militants returning home from Syria and Iraq.
At the same time, the bureau warned that "the global terrorist campaign by Iran and Hezbollah continues to threaten Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, especially 'soft' targets, i.e. tourists and Jewish symbols."
Israel's recent Gaza offensive, initially launched with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from the coastal enclave, finally ended on August 26 with an open-ended cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian resistance factions.
In 2008/09, over 1,500 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip during Israel's three-week-long "Operation Cast Lead."
www.aa.com.tr/en
