Israel warns citizens in Thailand to be vigilant amid ‘growing fear’ of terror plots
Warning does not change threat level, says caution applies to whole country, after report that Thai police has firm indications of attack on upcoming Friday party in Koh Phangan
The Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday said there was a “growing fear of attacks on Israelis and Jews across Thailand,” as Thai police reportedly warned of a terror plot at the November 15 Full Moon party on the popular vacation island of Koh Phangan.
The warnings came amid allegations of an Iran-backed plot on Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka linked to an assassination attempt on US President-elect Donald Trump
Unlike Sri Lanka, Israelis have not been ordered to leave Thailand, and the PMO in its warning Tuesday said there was no change to the threat level there.
The statement, issued on behalf of the Mossad and the National Security Council, said, “Over recent months, Israeli security services in cooperation with Thai security have acted to thwart several incidents” in the country.
“Since October 7 and the war [in Gaza], Iran and its proxies have intensified their efforts to harm Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,” the statement said.
The NSC urged Israelis in Thailand to remain alert; avoid outwardly displaying Israeli or Jewish identity; avoid large-scale events known to be associated with Israelis; avoid publishing their travel plans in advance on social media; and contact local security regarding any suspicions of hostile action targeting Israelis or Jews.
The warning, which said its recommendations “apply to the whole country, with no focus on a specific area,” came hours after a Ynet news site report that said Thai police had warned in an internal document of a terror plot against Israelis on Koh Phangan.
The document was said to alert specifically of a plot targeting the Full Moon party, which is set for Friday and usually draws many Israeli tourists. Ynet cited sources familiar with the matter saying there were firm indications of intent to harm Israelis, of whom there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, in Koh Phangan.
The news site said Thai police had erected roadblocks across Koh Phangan due to the warning of attacks there.
Meanwhile, a United States criminal complaint unsealed on Friday showed that Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan national who is accused of being hired by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to assassinate Donald Trump, had told FBI investigators he was also tasked with planning a mass shooting of Israeli tourists near Sri Lanka’s Arugam Bay in October.
Shakeri had also been instructed to assassinate two Jewish businesspeople in New York, as well as an Iranian-American journalist hostile to the Islamic Republic, the complaint said.
Israel had warned its citizens to leave the South Asian island nation late last month. According to the complaint, local authorities arrested three people allegedly connected to Shakeri’s plot in Sri Lanka.
One of the detainees, said to have served prison time with Shakeri, had surveilled Arugam Bay on Shakeri’s orders, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, Shakeri had originally tasked the detainee with surveilling Israel’s consulate in Sri Lanka — a non-physical entity, since Israel’s consular activities there are overseen by the mission to India. After sending surveillance footage to the Revolutionary Guard, Shakeri was ordered to identify another target.
Tehran has long been known to plan attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets in the West, with at least 33 Iran-backed kidnappings and murders thwarted since 2020.
