Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah “stand behind” Israeli embassy car explosion in New Delhi and an attempted car bomb explosion in Tbilisi, Reuters and The Associated Press reported.
According to the Georgian Interior Ministry a local staffer of the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi alerted police after finding an explosive attached to his car on February 13; the bomb was defused before exploding, an Interior Ministry office said. Also on February 13 at least one person was wounded in an explosion of the Israeli embassy car in the Indian capital New Delhi.
"In recent months we have witnessed several attempts to attack Israeli citizens and Jews in several countries, including Azerbaijan, Thailand and others," PM Netanyahu said at a meeting with politicians from his Likud party. "Iran and its proxy Hezbollah were behind all of these attempted attacks."
"Today we have witnessed two additional attempted terrorist attacks on innocent civilians, the first against an Israeli woman who was wounded in New Delhi and the second against a local employee of the Israeli Embassy in Georgia," he continued. "Iran is behind these attacks; it is the largest exporter of terrorism in the world. The Government of Israel and the security services will continue to act together with local security forces against such acts of terrorism. We will continue to take strong and systematic, yet patient, action against the international terrorism that originates in Iran."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the February 13 New Delhi attack and an attempted bomb explosion in Tbilisi.
Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Grigol Vashadze, told journalists: “Our law enforcement agencies are working now; I hope no one doubts about effectiveness of the work of our law enforcement agencies and as soon as the investigation is over they will make public comments.”
The incidents came one day after the fourth anniversary marking the assassination of Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Imad Mughniyah, which the Islamist group blames on Israel.
In February 2011, ahead of the third anniversary of Mughniyah’s assassination, Israeli press was reporting that Israel’s Counterterrorism Bureau warned its citizens to avoid travel to destinations like Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Turkey, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritania and Venezuela, because of increased threat of terror attacks against Israelis.