Agents sent to European capitals to hunt down Iran’s Quds Force following Burgas bombing, Sunday Times reports; Defense official dismisses spy novel scenario, says there is no concrete threat

Israel reportedly fears Iran or a proxy organization may seek to attack Israelis during the Olympic Games, set to begin later this week, The Sunday Times reported.

Israel had already planned for beefed-up security for its delegation at the Games in London, but now harbors concerns that the terrorists responsible for last week’s bombing of an Israeli tourist bus in Burgas, Bulgaria, will strike again, the paper reported Sunday.

According to the Sunday Times, agents from the Mossad spy agency and Shin Bet security service, who flew to Bulgaria in the wake of the bombing, have hurried to try to identify the bomber and his helpers in an effort to counter any possible threats on Israel’s delegation to the high-profile event.

A Mossad agent in Bulgaria has reportedly been in close contact with Britain’s security service about possible threats. According to the report, special Mossad agents have been dispatched to capitals around Europe where members of Iran’s Quds Force are known to be working out of embassies.

Though the group responsible for the Bulgaria bombing Wednesday, which left six dead, is still unconfirmed, Israeli officials have pointed to Iran or its proxy Hezbollah as the probable culprits.

Iran is also thought to have been behind a number of foiled attacks on Israeli targets around the world in the last several months, including in a car bomb targeting the wife of Israel’s Defense attaché in India in February.

Officials have said terror groups are now looking to hit ‘soft’ Israeli targets outside of Israel, rather than trying to penetrate security measures inside the country.

The Defense Ministry’s director of policy and political-military affairs Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad (res.) rejected the Times’ description of the efforts in an interview to Army Radio Sunday morning, characterizing them as “Literary descriptions taken out of spy novels.”

“Intelligence services simply don’t operate in that way, dispatching dozens of agents to chase down ghosts,” said Gilad. He explained that Israel’s intelligence agencies, in cooperation with their international counterparts, are constantly working to foil terror attacks and that in reality their tasks involved meticulous work conducted by skilled people and urged people to remain calm and keep things in perspective. He said there is no concrete threat on an attack during the Olympics.

Gilad reiterated Israel’s belief that Iran and Hezbollah were behind the Burgas attack, stressing that Israel and its partners had successfully foiled several terror attacks in recent months. “When the terrorists succeed they make bloody headlines. Our successes seldom get reported,” he said.

Tensions between Iran and Israel have ramped up in recent years as Israel has lobbied against Tehran’s nuclear program, threatening military action if needed to stop it. The Islamic Republic has fingered Israel for a number of assassinations of nuclear scientists, a claim Israel denies.

British officials have said security around the high-profile Olympic games will be tight, and Israeli athletes will be under special protection and kept in an area apart from the general athletes’ village.

The London Games mark the 40th anniversary of an attack on Israeli athletes in the Munich Olympics that ended with 11 members of the team being killed. In that case, Palestinian terrorists stormed the Israelis’ living quarters, killing two and taking nine hostage. The hostage Israelis were later killed during a botched raid by German soldiers. (© 2012 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL 07/22/12)