Israel advises its citizens to leave Turkey immediately due to terror threats

JERUSALEM POST

Israel upgraded its travel advisory regarding Turkey on Monday, recommending that not only should Israelis not travel to the country, but that Israelis already there should leave immediately.

The new advisory comes some 10-days after three Israelis were among the four people killed in a blast in central Istanbul.

The Counter-terrorism Bureau in the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement saying that the existing travel warning has been upgraded from a level 3 warning of a threat of concrete attacks, to a level 2 warning of a high concrete threat.

According to a statement issued by the bureau, the Istanbul attack demonstrated again the high level threat to tourist sites in Turkey from Islamic State, as well as the organization’s capability of carrying out attacks. “The terrorist infrastructure in the state continues to promote additional attacks against tourists in Turkey, including Israeli tourists,” the statement read.

This advisory replaces one issued a day after the Istanbul attacks, in place since August 2014, that sufficed with advising Israelis to refrain only from unnecessary travel to Turkey.