Israel has sent out an urgent warning to its citizens in Istanbul: take shelter and lock yourselves up, for a terrorist attack is imminent.
Israel Issues Terror Warning For Israelis In Istanbul
All week we’ve been hearing rumblings about a planned terrorists attack by Iranian agents targeting Israelis in Istanbul, the largest city in Türkiye. On Monday, Israelis were urged to to leave the country immediately and avoid non-essential travel to the Turkish Republic. Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) raised the threat level for Istanbul to Level 4 (putting it on par with Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Yemen). The move comes after Israelis assassinated an Iranian officer in Tehran, prompting threats of violent retribution.
As the sabbath began on Friday evening, those warnings became all the more urgent. Israel’s former permanent representative to the United Nations (currently World Likud Chairman), Danny Danon, issued an urgent warning of danger to Israelis in Istanbul:
Iranian agents are trying to hunt down innocent Israeli civilians this evening in Istanbul, Turkey. If any Israeli citizens will be harmed, it would bear heavy implications upon the murderous regime in Teheran.
— Ambassador Danny Danon | דני דנון (@dannydanon) June 17, 2022
The NSC has warned:
Hotel rooms should be kept locked when inside and the door should not be opened to strangers who might be posing as staff or delivery people
Several Iranian cells embedded in Istanbul are thought to be have been activated and are hunting for Israelis. Meanwhile, Turkish and Israeli forces are working together to find and stop the cells, though Türkiye has not been pleased with the alarmist warnings from Israel, which it fears will scare away visitors from outside Israel.
In any case, this is quite an harrowing message and I wanted to pass it along, as I know I even have Jewish Award Expert clients in Istanbul now. Be safe out there.
CONCLUSION
Hopefully this is just an overabundance of caution, but Israel continues to warns its citizens that they face an imminent risk of attack in Istanbul. Istanbul is one of my favorite cities in the world, but do exercise elevated caution if your travels take you there in the days ahead.
(H/T: Paddle Your Own Kanoo)
Animals.
Pray for the Jewish people in Turkey tonight.
Well, sounds like they are only after Israeli citizens, not Turkish citizens who are Jewish.
Wouldn’t the US do something similar if it’s own citizens were assassinated on US territory by foreign agents?
No? What country do you think the US is assasinating random citizens of == in a third countries’ location?
What a delusional, false whataboutism.
You mean random US drone strikes that when not killing the intended targets, killed civilians instead? Not a false whataboutism at all.
Just bring it up as a comparison, since in this case, Israel did just that and people are shocked there might be retaliation.
Are you sure this isn’t a Covid response? Numbers are out of control in Istanbul right now. Stay home, stay safe, and save lives.
Are we sure this isn’t because a republican or a trump family member is there?
Are they bringing the Bone-saws?
Are we all using “Türkiye” now? While I understand that this is the official name of the country, that word does not fit in English, specifically because we don’t have a “ü.” Country names are always adapted into their host language (sometimes in very strange ways) so it does not seem inappropriate to continue to use “Turkey” or perhaps “Turkia.”
Haven’t decided. I thought I’d try it. I still call Myanmar Burma.
Burma vs. Myanmar has validity. Burma represents the Burmese people and language, but not necessarily the nation that occupies those borders. The state of Myanmar recognizes that there are cultural and linguistic differences within it’s borders, so it isn’t a nation-state. France is a nation-state (as a result of a century of political posturing), so is Mexico. Turkey isn’t. Turkey has a few very visible ethnic minority groups that are happy to live in Ataturk’s Turkey, but aren’t Turkish. “Türkiye” is an affront to the millions of residents of the Turkish Republic who value the secular society that was founded in their country in 1923.
Let Türkiye go the way of Czechia. We’re not disrespecting Turks by calling their country Turkey. Nor are Turks disrespectful when they say “Yunanistan.”
France has many non-French ethnic groups that are recognized and form decent sized population groups (Britons, Flemish, Corsicans, etc). Mexico also has many cultural and linguistic groups as well. So not that different from Turkey, though some of the groups in Turkey form a larger percentage of the population that the ethinic groups you find in France and Mexico.
““Türkiye” is an affront to the millions of residents of the Turkish Republic who value the secular society”
Well, it’s not like he wants to rebrand it to “The Islamic Republic of Türkiye”. He is just making it sound less Western, with has nothing to do with secularism.
I think Erdogan rarely takes any action with secular motives. I’m sure he’d love to rebrand the country as IR Türkiye, but I suppose you’re correct, a name alone has no religious affiliation. Though this is just one step, of many, that looks like backsliding to me.
Erdogan would like to rebrand the country as Erdoganland. Maybe that’ll be his next move.
this is not being paranoid at all!!!!
my friend was in istanbul last week speaking hebrew to somebody
when a few moments later a middle eastern looking man
approached that indiviual and asked which country he is from
“a few moments later a middle eastern looking man”
I don’t know if this is more or less laughable considering Turkey is a Middle Eastern country…
what a village idiot!!
TURKS are white!!
And take the globe out of your backside
turkey is in the medditereanaen
Wrong on so many levels.