Israelis warned of heightened terror risks abroad

With the Jewish High Holidays approaching, Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau emphasized to travelers Monday the growing risk of attacks against Jewish targets in Western Europe by jihadists, including from the Lebanese Hezbollah group.

“Following the attack against the Jewish Museum in Brussels (May 4), there is concern of further attacks against Israelis and Jews throughout the world, particularly in Western Europe, from global jihad operatives (including the Islamic State), mainly from ‘graduates of Syria and Iraq’ returning to their home countries,” the Counter-Terrorism Bureau said in a press release.

Security experts have been warning for much of the past year that European citizens fighting alongside jihadists in the Middle East pose a major threat in their home countries. Those fears were exacerbated last week when a French journalist held hostage for months by extremists in Syria identified one of his captors as Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman suspected of later killing four at the Brussels Jewish Museum in May, saying the militant had taken sadistic delight in mistreating prisoners.

Based on the testimony of four French reporters who were kidnapped by IS and held captive by Nemmouche, French daily Liberation reported Monday that the returned IS fighter planned “at least one attack in France, in the heart of Paris, which would be at least five times bigger than the attacks in Toulouse.” The attack would allegedly have taken place on Paris’s iconic Champs Elysees boulevard on July 14, the French national holiday marking the beginning of the revolution.

And on Sunday, France estimated that at least 930 citizens or residents of France are involved in jihadist activities related to Syria or Iraq.

In addition to the relatively new threats emanating from Iraq and Syria, the Counter-Terrorism Bureau also reiterated that the “global jihad campaign of Iran and Hezbollah continues to present a threat to Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide, particularly soft targets,” such as Israeli tourist destinations and Jewish symbols.

The press release specifically listed Chabad, an international religious Jewish organization with missions all over the world, which was targeted in 2008 by a terror attack in Mumbai, India. India’s Ministry of Home Affairs advised Israelis on Wednesday to be alert when traveling both alone and in groups, as well as when taking part in gatherings in Indian cities and tourist sites. The ministry added that it would seek to heighten security for Israelis traveling in India.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, has been blamed by Bulgarian authorities for a 2012 bus bombing in the eastern Bulgarian resort town of Burgas, which killed six people, including five Israeli tourists.

The Counter-Terrorism Bureau also maintained its warning against traveling in the Sinai Peninsula based on the recent activity of jihadist group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against Egyptian security and civilian murders.