Security officials have warned Israelis who live in West Africa about Hizbullah's attempts to carry out a terror attack in revenge for the killing of Imad Mughniyeh, which it attributes to the Mossad.
The Counterterrorism Bureau has not yet issued a formal travel alert
for Israeli visitors to West African countries. Instead, security
officials were sent to inform Israeli businessmen and community leaders
about the information regarding a possible abduction or a terror attack
being planned by Hizbullah against Israelis in one or more West African
countries.
The Prime Minister's Office, in a rare move Monday, restricted the
Foreign Ministry and the Counterterrorism Bureau from commenting on the
issue.
The office has retained an alert on its Web site since Mughniyeh's
February assassination advising Israelis, and especially businessmen
who deal with Arab colleagues, to stay alert and to avoid areas
frequented by Israelis.
Israel has diplomatic ties with the majority of the West African
countries: Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory
Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon.
Hundreds of Israeli workers and businessmen frequent these countries on
behalf of multinational companies, often involved in the diamond trade.
"West African countries have a large Arab community, and many of them
are Shi'ite immigrants from Lebanon - who constitute the Hizbullah
infrastructure in the region," a senior official at the Foreign
Ministry told The Jerusalem Post, Monday.
Shortly after Mughniyeh's assassination in February, security officials
warned that Israeli and Jewish institutions in Africa were likely
targets for Hizbullah retaliation.
Officials said Monday that Hizbullah maintained a strong presence in
northern and western Africa and could take advantage of lax security
throughout these areas when perpetrating its retaliatory attack.
"Hizbullah looks for a country with a weak regime, weak intelligence
and security services and relatively easy escape routes," a defense
official explained.
Israelis have been targeted in Africa before. In 2002, suicide bombers
killed 13 people and injured over 80 in an attack on the Paradise
Hotel, a popular Israeli vacation spot in Mombassa, Kenya. At the same
time, two shoulder-to-air missiles were launched at an Israeli charter
jet that had taken off from a nearby airport. The missiles missed their
target.
The working assumption in the Israeli security establishment is that
now that the Regev-Goldwasser-Kuntar swap deal has been completed,
Hizbullah has a greater motivation to carry out a revenge operation
than before.
Another working premise suggests that Hizbullah activists in West
Africa are planning either the abduction of Israelis or a "low profile"
terror attack, such as the two attacks in Buenos Aires in the early
1990s.
Eighty-five people were killed in the famous terror attack on the AMIA
Jewish community building in Buenos Aires in 1994, and 29 were killed
in an earlier attack on the Israeli Embassy building in the city in
1992. Neither Hizbullah nor any other organization has ever claimed
responsibility for the attacks.
Nonetheless, Israelis who live or lived in West Africa told the Post
they do not believe Hizbullah will dare to carry a terror attack on
such flammable ground.
An Israeli who works in Nigeria and is on a visit in Israel told the
Post he was not especially concerned for his security there.
"Normally, there is not much tension between the Israeli and the
Lebanese communities living in Nigeria, because these people are there
for business purposes and not for political reasons," said Gloria, who
refused to provide her last name.
"Since no white businessman can move freely in West Africa without a
bodyguard, an armored vehicle and a secure compound in which he must
live, a possible attack turns out to be less attractive" there, Itzhak
Oren, former ambassador to Nigeria and Benin, told the Post. "Besides,
Hizbullah does not tend to carry attacks abroad, and it seems less
likely that they will do it in West Africa where the regimes are highly
aggressive, and can severely limit the movement of the Lebanese people
living in West Africa as a result of an attack on their territories,"
Oren added.
Yigal, another Israeli who works for a cellular company in Ghana, added
that as someone who travels the country installing cellular antennas
and Internet infrastructure, he has not felt hostility, whether from
the Muslim or Christian residents.
"It is pretty calm here, but that might be because it is pre-election
period. Still, none of the Israelis I am in touch with here on a daily
basis has received such an alert," he said.
