Iran Official Warns Israel that its Embassies Are Not Safe

FILED - 06 April 2024, Iran, Tehran: An undated picture shows Iranian Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi (R), a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps' foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, who was killed the previous days following Israeli airstrikes on the Iranian embassy's consular annexe in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Photo: Sepahnews/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
FILED - 06 April 2024, Iran, Tehran: An undated picture shows Iranian Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi (R), a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps' foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, who was killed the previous days following Israeli airstrikes on the Iranian embassy's consular annexe in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Photo: Sepahnews/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Iran Official Warns Israel that its Embassies Are Not Safe

FILED - 06 April 2024, Iran, Tehran: An undated picture shows Iranian Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi (R), a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps' foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, who was killed the previous days following Israeli airstrikes on the Iranian embassy's consular annexe in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Photo: Sepahnews/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
FILED - 06 April 2024, Iran, Tehran: An undated picture shows Iranian Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi (R), a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps' foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, who was killed the previous days following Israeli airstrikes on the Iranian embassy's consular annexe in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Photo: Sepahnews/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

A top Iranian military adviser on Sunday warned Israel that none of its embassies were safe following last week's strike in Damascus blamed on Israel that killed two elite Iranian generals.

The remarks by Gen. Rahim Safavi, a military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, signaled that the attack on a diplomatic mission could be met with a similar response.

“None of the embassies of the (Israeli) regime are safe anymore,” Safavi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim agency. He spoke at a ceremony in Tehran for the generals killed in the strike that flattened an Iranian consular building.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was prepared for any response. “Whoever harms us or plans to harm us, we will harm them," he told a Cabinet meeting.

Israel has not confirmed it was behind the strike on Damascus. Its leaders have said in more general terms that they are operating against Iran, which backs militant groups Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both of which have been in combat with Israel for the past six months.
The United States is also on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran targeting Israeli or American assets in the region.



Slovenia Declares Two Israeli Ministers Persona Non Grata

Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)
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Slovenia Declares Two Israeli Ministers Persona Non Grata

Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)

Slovenia declared two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, persona non grata on Thursday, the first European Union country to do so, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said.

The government accused Israel's national security minister Ben-Gvir and finance minister Smotrich - both West Bank settlers - of making "genocidal statements" and inciting violence against Palestinians.

There was no immediate reaction from Israel's government which has regularly rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza, and says it is acting in self-defense following the deadly October 7, 2023, attack led by Hamas gunmen.

Fajon said Slovenia had decided to make the move after EU foreign ministers did not agree on joint action against Israel over charges of human rights violations at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.

"Today, the government adopted one of the first national measures, which is to declare two Israeli ministers... unwanted in the Republic of Slovenia," Fajon told a news conference.

"This kind of measure is the first of its kind in the European Union. We are breaking new ground," she said. Other measures were being prepared, she added, without going into detail.

Slovenia's government issued a statement saying the ministers "publicly advocate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the forced evictions of Palestinians, and call for violence against the civilian Palestinian population".

Last year, Slovenia recognized an independent Palestinian state.

In June, Britain, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, imposed sanctions on the two Israeli ministers, accusing them of inciting violence against Palestinians.

Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in 2023 in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Israeli tallies, and 251 people were taken to Gaza and held hostage.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.