Al-Qaeda hit list names 3 Israeli diplomats
Three Israeli diplomats have appeared on international terrorist organization Al-Qaedas hit list, published on the groups website under the heading, Our enemies.
Osama Bin Ladens terrorist group uses its website to encourage members to make efforts to murder officials who appear on the hit list, according to a report in Yediot Aharonot.
Photos of the three diplomats appear on the site, and Foreign Ministry officials believe they were taken from the ministrys own official website. Officials are taking the threat very seriously, intensifying security measures for its personnel and even removing photos of all its representatives from the ministrys website.
Israeli and American embassies are considered the most secure diplomatic offices in the world. Nonetheless, there have been a number of successful terrorist attacks on official Israeli offices in the past 25 years.
A 1992 attack against the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires resulted in 29 deaths.
Israels Ambassador to Great Britain, Shlomo Argov, was also the target of an assassination attempt in 1982 which left him paralyzed.
Increased security and a heightened alert at Israeli embassies and missions in high-risk regions have been activated, said Foreign Ministry sources.
The three Israeli officials join diplomats from the U.S., Great Britain and Australia on the al-Qaeda website hit list.
Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-05-18 |