Report: Israel Thwarted 50 Terror Attacks Around the World by Islamic State, Iran

TEL AVIV – The Mossad together with Israel’s military intelligence thwarted 50 terror attacks by the Islamic State and Iran in 20 countries around the world over the past three years, a TV report said Tuesday. 

Israel provided critical information to local authorities ahead of the attacks, the report by Israel’s Channel 12 said. According to the report, 12 of the attacks were supposed to have taken place on Turkish soil – some of them during a period in which Turkey and Israel had frozen all diplomatic ties.

Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had thwarted “major” terror attacks planned by the Islamic State terror group and others in “dozens” of countries by using cyber-intelligence, including a bombing on United Arab Emirates’ national carrier Etihad.

“That plane from Sydney to Abu Dhabi was going to be exploded in midair,” he said. “We found out through our cyber activities, we found out that ISIS was going to do this and so we alerted the Australian police and they stopped this before it happened.”

“This particular incident, I can talk about,” Netanyahu said. “If you multiply that 50 times, that will give you an idea of the contribution that Israel has made to prevent major terrorist operations, especially from ISIS [Islamic State], in dozens of countries and most of those cases were foiled because of our activities in cybersecurity.”

Also in June, a senior Israeli official told the Kan public broadcaster that the Mossad had provided the UK government with intelligence that prevented Iranian terror proxy Hezbollah from stockpiling tons of explosives in London in 2015.

The plot was part of a wider plan for Hezbollah to carry out attacks in more countries.

In July 2018, news emerged that the Mossad had foiled an attack in a town near Paris.

In February of that year, it was reported that intelligence provided by the IDF’s 8200 unit to Australia foiled an Islamic State attempt to bomb a flight from Australia.

Last week, Mossad chief Yossi Cohen said that Israel is involved in a “secret effort” with other Arab countries that “are not willing to tolerate Iran’s thuggish behavior, positioning Israel as their focus for hatred.”

Cohen also accused Iran of being behind last month’s attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and said Tehran sought “to start a fire” in the region.

“I say to you, with certainty, based on the best sources of both Israeli and Western espionage, that Iran is behind these attacks. They were approved by Iranian leadership and carried out, in large part, by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies,” he said.