Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Beniten announced today, Monday, that Israel and Turkey have thwarted several attempts by Iranian-backed terrorists to attack Israelis.
“The operational efforts with the Turkish security forces have paid off,” Bennett added in a press briefing. “In recent days, and in a joint Israeli-Turkish effort, we have thwarted a number of terrorist attempts and many terrorists were arrested on Turkish soil,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
He also said that Israel and Turkey are working very closely together to stop Iran’s attempt to harm the Israelis, and thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his efforts.
“We will reveal the true face of Iran”
In addition, he made it clear that work is underway with the aim of returning the situation in Turkey and Israeli tourism to normal. “We have to end anti-terror operations,” he said.
Bennett warned that Israel “will continue to reveal the true face of Iran,” saying that there will be a reaction to anyone who tries to harm the Israelis, as he put it.
Two Turkish riot police officers walk in front of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul (AFP)
He added that “the days when Iran financed terrorism and provided the terrorists with equipment and training and were left safe are over,” reiterating his words that “the one who sends the terrorists pays the price. We will go anywhere we need it.”
Thousands of tourists in Turkey
About 2,000 Israelis are still in Turkey today, down from 5,000 earlier in the week, prior to the discovery of those cells.
It is noteworthy that these developments came after Iran had repeatedly warned during the past few days that it would inevitably respond to the “assassinations carried out by Israel on Iranian soil” recently, especially after the killing of Colonel in the Revolutionary Guards, Hassan Sayyad Khudaei, with gunshots near his home east of Tehran. On the 22nd of last May.
Noting that the Israeli authorities, as usual, did not confirm or deny responsibility for the assassination of Khadaei or other guardsmen who fell during the past few days in strange and suspicious ways, in an approach they have always adopted for many years.