The aggravation of the travel warning to Turkey was not easily accepted.
Various security sources pressed for it a few days ago amid unequivocal information about Iran's attempts to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli targets, but at the political level they were hesitant, for fear of harming delicate relations with Turkey.
Behind the scenes, intense contacts took place between Jerusalem and Ankara to explain the unusual move.
In Turkey, they feared, and rightly so, a wave of cancellations of Israeli tourists at the beginning of the tourist season and the economic damage that would be caused as a result.
Israel has made it clear that this move is not aimed at Turkey or its leader, Erdogan, and that it would have been taken in any other country to save lives.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman: "We will respond in Israel to the deaths of senior officials, and not in a third country" // Photo: Iranian networks
These contacts were conducted in several parallel axes: between the foreign ministries of the two countries, between the national security advisers, and between the countries' security services.
This channel, the security one, was also used to transmit the information on the basis of which Israel decided to issue the severe travel warning.
This is a professional channel, which also existed between the countries during the years of political separation between Israel and Turkey;
Through it, the Mossad passed information in the previous decade that was used to thwart dozens of planned ISIS attacks in Turkey, as well as the information that enabled the thwarting of the planned attack in Turkey against Israeli targets recently.
"There is no 100% success"
In Israel, they hoped that Turkey would act diplomatically with Tehran to stop the Iranian terrorist plans, which were defined yesterday by a senior official as "very immediate and dangerous."
However, the Turks are avoiding this at the present time and prefer to focus on counterterrorism efforts on their land.
In the meantime, these efforts are bearing fruit thanks to the excellent intelligence information provided by Israel, but the defense establishment warns that "there is no one hundred percent success one hundred percent of the time," so it was decided to contact Israeli citizens and cancel their trip to Turkey or leave the country immediately.
The Iranian effort is being carried out in several ways at the same time.
Most are run by Unit 840 of the Quds Force in the Revolutionary Guards, one of whose seniors, Hassan Siad Houdai, was recently assassinated in an operation attributed to the institution.
On targeting: Tourists or businessmen visiting Turkey, especially Istanbul, and Israeli and Jewish destinations in the country.
An attempt was also made to entice Israeli businessmen to come to Turkey for alleged business purposes, in order to kidnap them.
Some of these efforts are being made by the Iranians themselves, and some through emissaries.
Tourists in Istanbul, this month.
The main target in the focus, Photo: AFP
In Turkey, there are several local networks that work to gather information and carry out attacks.
Beside them, there are mercenaries - mostly Pakistanis and Afghans, as well as drug dealers - whom Iran has hired to carry out the attacks themselves.
The plot of the attack is also dynamic, and for Iran "everything goes" - from kidnappings to bombings, shootings or stabbings.
Iran's desire for immediate revenge has sharpened sharply in recent days, amid a wave of mysterious deaths of several elements involved in Iran's nuclear project and the arms and terrorism industry.
The Iranian and international media have attributed all these cases to the institution, but past experience shows that there are other factors - from opposition organizations in Iran to the liquidation of internal accounts and natural circumstances - that are partly responsible.
However, even if Israel is not responsible for all the liquidation operations, there is no doubt that this is a change in trend.
Until recently, Israel in Iran only acted against personalities or means related to the Iranian nuclear project.
Operations against those involved in the smuggling of weapons and terrorist acts have been carried out in other countries, including those bordering Israel. It seems that Israel has now decided to move the main arena of activity against Iran to Iran itself. Them in Tehran, to which Prime Minister Bennett pointed out when he said that Israel had moved from action against the octopus' arms to action against its head.
Risk alongside advantage
This new directive has a built-in risk: the open harm to Iranians (even if it is done in secret ways) obliges them to respond, and increases the risk to Israelis and Jews around the world.
On the other hand, it also has an advantage: it puts Iran on the defensive, and obliges everyone involved in the nuclear / weapons / terrorism industry to invest efforts and attention in preserving its life and its environment.
This intense Israeli activity (including in the BMB) rests, among other things, on the fact that the new nuclear agreement has not yet been signed, and the world is preoccupied with the war in Ukraine.
This Israeli-Iranian struggle is expected to continue in the near future, and may even intensify.
The risks inherent in it require not only state measures, but also personal responsibility - which Foreign Minister Lapid pointed out yesterday in his call for Israelis not to travel to Turkey.
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