National Security Council warns Iran could attack Israel, Jews on Oct. 7 anniversary

The National Security Council warned of a heightened risk of terror attacks against Israelis and Jews on Wednesday, the third anniversary of the October 7 onslaught, as security chiefs huddled to discuss threats in the lead-up to Israel’s October 27 Knesset election.

The 2023 onslaught saw thousands of Hamas-led terrorists storm southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking a destructive war in Gaza.

Large anti-Israel demonstrations have taken place in major cities worldwide to mark the onslaught’s first two anniversaries, and are also planned for this week to mark the third anniversary.

“Terrorist organizations, led by Iran and its proxies, Hamas, and global jihadist elements, view this date as a significant milestone,” the NSC said in a travel warning published by the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday.

The NSC also urged Israelis to avoid Jordan, Qatar, Somaliland and Egypt, including the Sinai Peninsula, on Wednesday.

Israelis elsewhere are encouraged to refrain from speaking Hebrew in crowded places, steer clear of demonstrations and avoid posting anything on social media that shows they served in Israel’s security forces.

Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levy, and Shin Bet chief David Zini said they held an assessment at Zamir’s office in Tel Aviv on Tuesday “as part of preparations for the sensitive period in the coming weeks” ahead of the election.

During the meeting, current assessments and intelligence regarding Israel’s borders and home front were presented, and efforts to “improve and strengthen defenses, combat terror groups, and address nationalist crime” were detailed, the security chiefs said in a joint statement.

The statement added that the security chiefs “agreed on a series of measures that will leverage each organization’s relative advantage to ensure the orderly and safe conduct of the upcoming election.”

Haaretz reported last month that Zini, whose agency is tasked by law with protecting Israel’s democracy, has agreed to take on countering foreign threats to the election’s integrity, but opted to leave the handling of domestic threats such as AI-powered bots to the poorly equipped police.

The security chiefs’ statement came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that Hamas would try to attack Israel ahead of the election to influence the result. Netanyahu insisted Israel was prepared for such a scenario.

The coming elections are Israel’s first since both the October 7 onslaught and the introduction of artificial intelligence applications such as ChatGPT, which have given bad actors unprecedented ability to spread fake news and stoke the social tensions exacerbated by the Hamas attack.

Dean Livne, the Central Elections Committee director-general, said in an interview with The Times of Israel last month that the committee has learned Israel’s was the second-most watched election in the world after the US midterms in November.

“Countries and organizations abroad are setting their sights on what’s happening here… and as a result, there are also attempts at interference,” Livne said at the time, refusing to elaborate.

He added that the competent authorities were preparing to meet the threat of foreign intervention “so that only Israeli citizens decide what happens in Israel.”