Attacks and Attempts

 Attacks and Attempts

The attack took place in New Delhi, the capital of India, today, while there was a second attempt in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.  In both instances explosives were utilized in cars connected to the local Israeli embassies.

In New Delhi, Tali Yehoshua-Koren, wife of the Defense Ministry representative to India was on her way to pick up her children from school when a blast occurred in her car, causing moderate injuries from shrapnel in her legs. .

Source: Haaretz

She was brought to the hospital for surgery, and two Israeli doctors who just happened to be in the areas were able to assume responsibility for her care. 

It is believed that an assassin on a motorbike attached the bomb to the car; it is unclear whether he was attempting to kill Tali Koren or believed her husband was in the car.

A local Indian resident, as well as the driver of the car, may also have been injured.  The car caught fire in the street, not far from the Indian prime minister's residence, and ultimately was gutted.

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In Tbilisi, a local employee of the Israeli embassy had dropped his children off at school when he heard a strange ticking in the car.  He got out of the car and located an explosive device; Georgia police sappers dismantled it and there were no injuries.

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We must be thankful that it was not a great deal worse.  In each instance, a parent was involved in either dropping off or picking up children, and yet no children were injured.

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In a press conference following these incidents, Prime Minister Netanyahu indicated that there have been similar attempts in recent months, including in Azerbaijan and Thailand:

"In each instance we succeeded in foiling the attacks in cooperation with local authorities....

Iran and its proxy Hezbollah were behind all of these attempted attacks.  Iran is the world's largest terror exporter."

As is the case each year, Israeli embassies have been placed on alert, in any event, because Hezbollah is about to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, one of its senior terrorist operatives.  There is always concern about retaliation at this time of year.  What gives pause is the fact that these two incidents seem to have been coordinated.

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Our prime minister indicated that actions would be taken to prevent future attacks.  Foreign Minister Lieberman will be holding a meeting with senior officials this evening to assess the current situation and provide new security directives, as needed, to Israel's diplomatic missions around the world.

India has pledged ample security for the Israeli embassy and has promised to try to find those responsible and bring them to justice.  India and Israel have exceedingly cordial relations, evidenced by a call placed to Lieberman by Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna.  Krishna, who visited Israel just last month, expressed "shock" and offered words that reinforced the friendship.

Krishna  Source: Ekantipur

Meanwhile, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague released a written statement on these incidents indicating that he was "shocked and appalled."

http://www.arlenefromisrael.info/current-postings/2012/2/13/february-13-2012-attacks-and-attempts.html