The 2012 attacks on Israeli diplomats occurred on 13 February 2012 after a bomb explosion on an Israeli diplomatic car in

New Delhi, India New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

, wounding one embassy staff member, a local employee and two passers-by. Another bomb planted in a car in

Tbilisi, Georgia Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million peo ...

failed to explode and was defused by Georgian police.

Background

Over the past several months, there has been an escalating war of words between Israel and Iran. On 12 February 2012, the Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Azeri ambassador to complain against a report in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' that

Mossad Mossad ( , ), ; ar, الموساد, al-Mōsād, ; , short for ( he, המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, links=no), meaning 'Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations'. is the national intelligence agency ...

had used Azerbaijan as a base for covert operations against Iran.

Incidents

India

A motorcyclist attached a

sticky bomb The "Grenade, Hand, Anti-Tank No. 74", commonly known as the S.T. grenade or simply sticky bomb, was a British hand grenade designed and produced during the Second World War. The grenade was one of a number of anti-tank weapons developed for u ...

to the car of the wife of the Israeli

defence attache Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

to India while she was on her way to pick up her children from school. The woman, Tal Yehoshua Koren, sustained moderate injuries that required surgery to remove shrapnel while her driver and two bystanders suffered minor injuries. An Indian journalist, Syed Mohammad Ahmed Kazmi, was charge-sheeted in the case. His judicial custody was extended until 9 August 2012, the day slated by the court to consider to take cognizance of the charge sheet.

Georgia

A car parked from the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi was discovered to have a bomb after a local driver for the embassy heard a noise while he was driving. He pulled over to side of the road and discovered a bomb underneath his car. He then alerted the Georgian police, who defused the bomb.

Thailand

Investigation

Indian Home Minister

P. Chidambaram Palaniappan Chidambaram (born 16 September 1945), better known as P. Chidambaram, is an Indian politician and lawyer who currently serves as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee ...

said that the use of

RDX RDX (abbreviation of "Research Department eXplosive") or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (O2N2CH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified as a n ...

was ruled out (which had previously been used in other attacks in India) and that no one was accused until investigations were over. He added that those who perpetrated the attacks would be brought to justice.

Delhi Police The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). Delhi Police comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India. In 2015, sanctioned strength of Delhi ...

had detained five people after the incident, but they were released after questioning. Indian authorities looked at

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

footage for images of the perpetrator. On 7 March 2012,

arrested Indian journalist Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi who claimed to work for an Iranian news organisation. The police claimed that he had conducted a

recce Recce may refer to: * Reconnaissance, military scouting * SEAL Recon Rifle, a rifle used by US Navy SEALs also called the ''Recce Rifle'' * Recce (filmmaking), a pre-shoot reconnaissance of a film location * South African Special Forces Brigade, ...

of the Israeli embassy along with three other Iranian nationals, one of whom executed the blast. They also claimed that he was in touch with the mastermind of the module, Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, and that Kazmi's wife received foreign remittances of through her bank account while Kazmi received from the module. On 3 April 2012, his bail petition was dismissed by a Court of Metropolitan Magistrate. The court cited prima facie evidence and large scale international ramifications to be among the reasons to dismiss his petition. On 10 April 2012,

Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation The Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation is the law enforcement agency under the Ministry of Finance responsible for investigating violations of India's tax laws, including fraud, evasion and money laundering. The controlling authori ...

and

Enforcement Directorate The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is a law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India. It is part of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Gover ...

registered a

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

case under

Prevention of Money Laundering Act Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted by the NDA government to prevent money-laundering and to provide for confiscation of property derived from money-laundering. PMLA and the Rules notified th ...

against Kazmi. However, his relatives refuted all allegations. On 31 July 2012, Kazmi was

chargesheet In policing on the Indian subcontinent, a chargesheet is prepared after First Information Reports (FIRs), and charges an individual for (some or all of) the crimes specified in those FIR(s). Once the charge sheet has been submitted to a court ...

ed. He was charged under various provisions of

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an Indian law aimed at prevention of unlawful activities associations in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty o ...

(UAPA),

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established in ...

(IPC) including attempt to murder and Explosive Substances Act. In July 2012, the ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

'' reported that

concluded that terrorists belonging to a branch of Iran's military, the

Iranian Revolutionary Guards The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

, were responsible for the attack. According to the report, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards may have planned other attacks on Israeli targets around the world as well.

Yoram Cohen Yoram Cohen ( he, יורם כהן; born 1960) is a retired Israeli security person who served as the Director of Shin Bet, from May 15, 2011 until May 8, 2016, when he was replaced by Nadav Argaman. Biography Cohen was born in Israel to Moshe a ...

, the chief of

Shin Bet The Israel Security Agency (ISA; he, שֵׁירוּת הַבִּיטָּחוֹן הַכְּלָלִי; ''Sherut ha-Bitaẖon haKlali''; "the General Security Service"; ar, جهاز الأمن العام), better known by the acronym Shabak ( he, ...

, said that Iranian agents were seeking revenge for covert operations, including the assassinations of Iranian scientists. Kazmi wa
granted bail
in October 2012. As of 2016, Kazmi was still out on bail.

Reactions

* – Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

blamed

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

for both incidents. "Iran, which is behind these attacks, is the greatest exporter of terrorism in the world. The Israeli government and its security forces will continue to work together with local security services against these terrorist actions." :The

Foreign Ministry In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

had also put its embassies on high alert for the anniversary of the killing of Hezbollah commander

Imad Mughniyah Imad Fayez Mughniyeh ( ar, عماد فايز مغنية; 7 December 1962 – 12 February 2008), alias al-Hajj Radwan (), was the founding member of Lebanon's Islamic Jihad Organization and number two in Hezbollah's leadership. Information about ...

, as Hezbollah had vowed to avenge the attack by attacking Israelis overseas. * –

spokesman

Ramin Mehmanparast Ramin Mehmanparast ( fa, رامین مهمانپرست) is an Iranian diplomat, the former spokesman of the Iranian foreign ministry and the former ambassador to Poland and Lithuania. He was the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the head of the ...

condemned the attacks, which it called "terrorist"; it rejected the Israeli allegation and denied responsibility for the incidents.

Aftermath

The next day another failed attempt in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

led to the injuries of four people. Though the target was not known the perpetrators were said to be Iranian. The attack was mentioned by

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

, the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

, as one of the terrorist attacks involving

Qasem Soleimani Qasem Soleimani ( fa, قاسم سلیمانی, ; 11 March 19573January 2020) was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until his assassination in 2020, he was the commander of the Quds F ...

, the

Quds Force The Quds Force ( fa, نیروی قدس, niru-ye qods, Jerusalem Force) is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War ...

commander, in his speech after the

2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike On 3 January 2020, Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general, was killed by a U.S. drone strike at Baghdad International Airport. The drone targeted and killed Soleimani while he was on his way to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Attacks On Israeli diplomats 2012 in Georgia (country) 2012 in India 2012 in Thailand category:February 2012 events in Asia category:March 2012 events in Asia 2012 in Bangkok 2010s in Delhi 2010s in Tbilisi 2012 crimes in Georgia (country) 2012 crimes in India 2012 crimes in Thailand 2012 Attacks On Israeli Diplomats 2012 Attacks On Israeli Diplomats 2012 Attacks On Israeli Diplomats

Israeli Diplomats Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...