Sinai: More than one terror threat
Anti-Terror Bureau Head Danny Arditi says many Israelis are aware of dangers in Sinai and less choose to vacation there due to travel warnings
TEL AVIV - Despite government travel warnings, tens of thousands of Israeli citizens were in the Sinai Peninsula Saturday, when three explosions rocked the southern town of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing at least 83 people and injuring more than 200.
However, Anti-Terror Bureau Head Danny Arditi says Israelis are not indifferent to the situation.
Arditi told Ynet he estimates that many Israelis do not choose Sinai as a travel destination due to the frequent travel warnings issued. However, he says, "it's impossible to check."
Without these warnings, some 20,000 - 30,000 Israeli tourists would have been in Sinai over the weekend, like it was five years ago, he says.
Common ideological basis
"Since the Taba bombings, we have spoken about more than source of threat,” he says. “We have had information about the intention to harm Israelis and foreign travelers. Sharm is one of the more attractive places, because it’s large and has many tourists.”
"We recommend that Israelis unequivocally refrain from traveling to Sinai, and for those who are still there, we recommend they return," he says. "If we look at the past several months, there was an attack in Cairo in which two Israelis were injured when a suicide bomber jumped off a bridge onto a group of tourists. And now there is Sharm.”
Arditi estimates that while there is no connection between the Sharm bombings and recent terror attacks in London, in terms their timing, there is a definite common ideological basis.
“In an indirect way, every attack in the world is aimed at western targets, tourism and transportation targets," he says.
