Mossad, Shin Bet hail Denmark for foiling alleged Hamas-linked terror plot on Danish soil
The Mossad and the Shin Bet hail Denmark’s intelligence agencies for their “intensive and comprehensive intelligence investigation” that led to the arrest in Denmark of “seven terrorist operatives acting on behalf of the terrorist organization Hamas, and foiled an attack aimed at killing innocent citizens on European soil,” according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Danish authorities said today they prevented a terror attack, after three arrests in Denmark and a fourth in the Netherlands. Officials did not go into details of the suspects or give any indication as to the possible target of the alleged plot.
The discrepancy in the number of arrests between the Israeli statement and the Danish announcement was not immediately clear
“It was a group that was planning an act of terror,” Flemming Drejer, head of operations at the PET intelligence service, told a news conference today.
There were “ramifications involving other countries” and organized crime, he added.
“In recent years, and even more so after the murderous attack on October 7, Hamas strives to expand its operational capabilities around the world and in Europe in particular in order to realize its ambitions to hit Israeli, Jewish and Western targets at any cost,” the Mossad and Shin Bet say in the statement.
The Israeli security agencies say they back “our partners in the intelligence and security bodies in Denmark for the successful countermeasures that culminated today with the realization of the arrests and the extensive exposure of Hamas infrastructure on European soil,” and urged legal proceedings against the suspects.
Denmark’s foreign intelligence service, known as FE, reported earlier in its annual assessment for 2023 that “the war between Israel and Hamas has once again shown that unresolved conflicts in Europe’s immediate area can escalate rapidly and create widespread regional instability.”
Earlier this month, the European Union’s home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, warned that Europe faces a “huge risk of terrorist attacks” over the Christmas holiday period due to the fallout from the war.
“This is extremely serious,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says at a European Union summit in Brussels today. “It shows the situation we are in in Denmark. Unfortunately.”
“It is absolutely true when both (Denmark’s intelligence agencies) say that there is a high risk in Denmark,” Frederiksen said. “It is of course completely unacceptable in relation to Israel and Gaza, that there is someone who takes a conflict somewhere else in the world into Danish society.”
The Mossad and Shin Bet say “Hamas works indiscriminately and in every way to expand its deadly activities to Europe, thus posing a threat to the internal security of these countries.”
“The Mossad and the Shin Bet will continue to operate in a combination of forces and capabilities with their partners in Israel and around the world in order to repel the intentions of Hamas and eliminate its capabilities,” they say.
