CAIRO: The Israeli Counter-Terrorism Bureau warned its citizens of potential kidnapping threats in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Thursday. It said in a press release that Israeli citizens in Sinai should leave immediately and those planning trips to Red Sea resorts should avoid the area. The bureau warned that a Jihadist group has made threats against Israelis traveling. A statement issued by the Bureau rated the threat as “concrete, very high,” and said operatives of the Army of Islam group were currently in the peninsula, looking to kidnap Israelis. Israeli citizens often travel to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to visit resorts and beaches along the coast. The area has been relatively calm in recent years after a string of bombings in 2004 through 2006 threatened the tourism sector in the peninsula. Ari Shavi, a 28-year-old Israeli from Tel Aviv, told Bikya Masr via telephone that he would not avoid the area because of a threat. “We get threats all the time and the media blows it up over and over,” he began. “If the government has a threat on record then they should get out and do something to stop it instead of telling people to avoid traveling. They would never tell Israelis to avoid traveling to a place in Israel and there are threats all the time,” he added. The threats from Army of Islam come after Israel assassinated a member of the group in the Gaza Strip last week who the government said was involved in planning the attack. The statement also called on relatives of Israelis currently in Sinai to contact them and bring the warning to their attention. Thousands of Israelis are usually in Sinai vacationing at any given time. The last warning against the Egyptian territory came in April. BM
