In travel advisory, Israelis urged to avoid Sinai, Turkey
Iran tops list of most dangerous countries; warning says Jewish sites in Europe could be targeted
Marissa Newman is The Times of Israel political correspondent.
Israel released a travel advisory Monday ahead of next month’s Jewish High Holidays, urging citizens to avoid nonessential travel to Turkey and to steer clear of Sinai, and warning that Jewish sites in Western and northern Europe could be targeted in terror attacks.
Iran and Lebanon topped the list of most dangerous countries, with a “very high concrete threat,” while war-torn Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen were listed in sixth to tenth place, respectively. Overall, 27 countries were spotlighted in the advisory, with various levels of security threats.
The warnings urged Israelis to keep out of Turkey, citing an “ongoing potential threat.” Turkey was the third-most visited country this summer among Israelis, with some 172,507 flying to and through the country in July.
The travel warning, which stressed that the information was not new but merely a reiteration of ongoing threats, also encouraged Israelis in the Sinai Peninsula to leave the area immediately, and warned tourists not to visit the once-popular destination under any circumstance. The threat comes after the Islamic State affiliate in Sinai has carried out repeated attacks against Egyptian soldiers and foreigners.
The advisory said that attacks this year by radical Islamists in Denmark, France, Australia, Belgium, and Canada “give rise to fears of additional attacks on Western targets, including Israeli and Jewish targets.”
It also maintained that Jewish sites and leaders — “Chabad houses, community leaders, rabbis” — remain under constant threat of attack by Hezbollah and Iran.
Israel’s Channel 2 reported that Israel has formally asked for assistance in protecting Jewish targets from the security authorities in India, Thailand — notably at Chabad facilities — and the Ukraine, where tens of thousands of Israelis make an annual Rosh Hashana pilgrimage to the Uman burial site of the mystic master Rabbi Nachman of Breslev.
This past year saw two fatal attacks on Jewish targets in Europe — a rampage in January at Paris’s HyperCacher supermarket, in which four Jewish men were killed, and a deadly shooting outside a Copenhagen synagogue that killed security guard Dan Uzan.
The travel advisory encourages Israelis abroad to be vigilant and avoid “unexpected” offers and late-night meetings in deserted areas.
The Times of Israel Community.