Vinayak Barot
New Delhi: A day after an Israeli cargo ship arrived at Mundra port in Gujarat after being missile-attacked by Iran, Jerusalem advised Jewish tourists to avoid travels to the Middle East and some other countries, fearing escalation of hostilities against Tehran.
On Monday, Israel advised its people to avoid traveling to UAE and other countries across the region, citing the threat of attacks by the Iranian Army.
The fresh Iranian offensive against Israeli interests came after Bahrain and Dubai established diplomatic ties with Jerusalem in September 2020 under the US-brokered peace agreements.
In a statement, Israel said that “We estimate that Iran will continue to operate in the near future to harm Israeli targets.”
In a travel advisory, Israel appealed to its travellers to avoid Georgia, Azerbaijan, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain, the Kurdish region of Iraq, as well as Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt.
After the establishment of diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv, the United Arab Emirates became a popular destination for Israeli tourists. Jerusalem had issued a similar travel advisory last year also.
The coronavirus pandemic had halted most travels, but after a successful vaccination campaign, Israel began to reopen its economy and expects tourism to pick up steam in the coming months.
According to an expert, “Iran’s aggressive and unstable behaviour towards several countries could create trouble for the whole world. Iran is already disturbed by the US restrictions and trying to get closer to Beijing.”
New Delhi had also made a huge investment to develop Chabahar port of Iran and any mistake of Tehran may damage this port as well.