Report: At least 12 terrorist plots foiled against Israelis in Turkey

The past two years saw a number terrorist plots against Israelis linked to the Islamic State group

Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency was involved in foiling 12 terrorist plots targeting Israelis in Turkey over the past two years, the Hebrew-language Channel 12 News reported on Saturday.

According to the unsourced report, the majority of the plots were linked to the Islamic State jihadist group and targeted Israeli businesspeople on trips to Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city.

The report said that recent years saw Mossad’s ties with Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) grow in scope, in spite of the often strained diplomatic relations between Israeli leadership and Turkey’s Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to the report, the plan represented attempted retaliation to the killing of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020, often attributed to Israel, as well as an attempt to hinder potential normalization between Ankara and Jerusalem.