It’s Starting: Israeli Gov’t Issues Travel Warning to Turkey

The Israeli government today issued a travel warning to Turkey in response to demonstrations taking place around the Israeli Consultate in Istanbul and the Israeli Embassy in Ankara.

“This delicate state of affairs is liable to deteriorate into violent outbreaks against Israelis in Turkey,” warned the National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau (NSCCTB) in a statement released Monday to the media. “Israelis due to leave for Turkey should — at this stage — refrain from traveling until the situation becomes clear. Israelis currently in Turkey should remain in their places of residence, avoid city centers and sites in which demonstrations are being held, and monitor developments out of concern that the situation could worsen,” the agency warned.

The protests were apparently ignited in response to the confrontation that ensued when a flotilla sponsored by so-called “peace activists” tried to challenge Israel’s sovereignty over Gaza’s coastal waters late Sunday night. 

In actuality, radical Muslim extremists were among those behind the attempt, as became obvious when Israeli Navy personnel attempted to redirect the vessels to the Ashdod port, where their "humanitarian aid" would have been off-loaded for legal delivery through the land crossings into Gaza.

The ships refused to stop, and a confrontation ensued, with Israeli soldiers being forced to board the vessels to take control -- a situation the organizers clearly had hoped for in order to provoke a conflict for media consumption. The so-called “peace activists” had stockpiled a cache of weapons, including guns, daggers, clubs and knives. At least one IDF soldiers was shot and critically wounded. A second was stabbed in the stomach.

Turkey provided material support to the organizers of the flotilla, a move that follows its recent tightening of relations with Iran and Syria in an apparent new alliance that builds on the already-firm axis between Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas.

This latest development forms an updated version of that military axis, which could signal a new threat to the Jewish State -- especially in light of the fact that up to this point Israel shared much of its military information and operations as well as other technological information with Turkey, formerly a close ally.

Israel Warns of Al-Qaeda Kidnap Threat in Northern Africa

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The Israeli government issued a concrete travel warning to its citizens Wednesday afternoon that the international al-Qaeda terrorist organization is intent on carrying out abductions, including against Israelis, in the Sahel countries in northern Africa.

“Information has been received that the organization intends to perpetrate attacks, especially abduction attacks, including against Israelis, in the various Sahel countries in Africa,” read he warning from the National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau.

“Given this concrete threat, the NSC Counter-Terrorism Bureau recommends that Israelis avoid visiting or staying in the following countries/areas: Ivory Coast, Togo, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali and northern Nigeria (about which there already is a valid travel warning).”

The NSC Counter-Terrorism Bureau also requested that Israelis maintain telephone contact with their friends and relatives currently in the above-mentioned countries/areas and update them on their status regularly.

In its warning, the Bureau also pointed out that in the past two years al-Qaeda gangs have kidnapped Austrian, German and Canadian nationals. The terrorists also attempted to snatch four U.S. citizens, but failed.

The Sahel is a geographical and climatic region of Africa that stretches in a swathe across the north of the continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea, south of the Sahara Desert and north of the Sudan.

Countries in the Sahel include Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal.