Attacks on Israeli diplomats: Facts and figures
By Tural Heybatov
On Wednesday, two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in the United States were shot dead in downtown Washington, D.C. The young man and woman were leaving an event at the Jewish Museum when they were struck by bullets fired by a terrorist. According to reports, the suspect has been apprehended.
This is not the first time Israeli diplomats have fallen victim to terrorism. Throughout the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such incidents have occurred repeatedly.
Yaron Lischinsky had planned to propose to his girlfriend Sarah Lynn Milgrim
Source:BBC
According to Israeli media sources, over the past 35 years, Israeli diplomats have been targeted in more than 20 terrorist attacks. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, around twenty diplomats and foreign service employees have been killed in the line of duty.
On September 8, 1969, Israeli embassies in The Hague and Bonn were attacked simultaneously, along with an assault on the El Al airline office in Brussels. Three airline employees and one passenger were injured, although no one at the embassies was harmed.
On May 4, 1970, three Arab terrorists stormed the Israeli embassy in Asunción and opened fire in an attempt to assassinate Ambassador Binyamin Vaiser Varon. Although the ambassador was unharmed, Edna Peer was killed on the spot and the ambassador’s secretary, Diana Zabluk, was seriously wounded. The assailants were arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
On May 28, 1971, Israeli Consul Efraim Elrom was kidnapped and murdered in Istanbul by members of the radical leftist underground group “People’s Liberation Army of Turkey,” who demanded the release of their comrades from Turkish prisons. The Turkish government refused, and Elrom was executed.
On September 19, 1972, Agricultural Attaché Ami Shachori was killed by a letter bomb at the Israeli embassy in London. The Palestinian terrorist group “Black September” claimed responsibility.
On December 28, 1972, four terrorists seized six staff members of the Israeli embassy in Bangkok. Fortunately, the hostages were released unharmed 19 hours later.
On July 1, 1973, Israeli Air Force Attaché Yosef Alon was shot five times at point-blank range outside his home in Washington, D.C. While the leading theory at the time pointed to an Arab terrorist group, later reports speculated that Alon may have been targeted by Israeli or U.S. intelligence services due to sensitive information he allegedly possessed regarding Israel’s failure to act before the Yom Kippur War.
On November 13, 1979, terrorists opened fire on the Israeli embassy in Lisbon, injuring the ambassador and killing a security guard.
On August 10, 1981, two bombs exploded inside the Israeli embassy in Vienna, injuring one person.
On August 12, 1981, twin bombings occurred near the Israeli embassy in Athens. There were no casualties, but the building was damaged.
On April 3, 1982, Israeli Attaché Yaakov Bar-Simantov was shot and killed near his home in Paris. A radical leftist group called the “Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions” claimed responsibility.
On June 3, 1982, Israeli Ambassador to the UK Shlomo Argov was shot in the head by members of the Abu Nidal faction of the PLO while attending a private dinner at the Dorchester Hotel in London. He survived but remained incapacitated for the rest of his life.
On December 3, 1982, a bomb exploded outside the Israeli embassy in Quito, Ecuador, killing two police officers guarding the building.
On December 23, 1982, another bombing occurred near the Israeli embassy in Sydney, injuring two people.
On June 28, 1984, a bomb exploded outside a hotel room in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where Israeli diplomats were staying.
On October 4, 1984, a car bomb exploded near the Israeli embassy building in Cyprus. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
On August 20, 1985, Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Albert Atrashchi was assassinated. His wife and a staff member traveling with him were seriously injured.
On March 19, 1986, terrorists attacked the car of the Israeli ambassador’s wife, Eti Tal-Or, near the entrance to the International Trade Fair in Cairo, next to the Israeli pavilion. She was killed instantly, and three others were seriously injured.
On March 7, 1992, the car of Ehud Sadan, the Israeli embassy’s head of security in Turkey, was blown up. He was killed in the attack. The blast created a half-meter-deep crater, damaged six other cars, and shattered windows within a 45-meter radius. Two Shiite militant groups, “Islamic Jihad” and “Islamic Revenge Organization,” claimed responsibility, citing retaliation for the killing of Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary-General Abbas al-Musawi.
On March 17, 1992, a suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. The blast destroyed the building, along with a nearby Catholic church and school. The attack left 28 people dead — including four embassy staff — and injured around 300 others, most of them civilians. This remains the deadliest terrorist attack against Israeli diplomatic personnel to date.
On July 26, 1994, a bomb exploded outside the Israeli embassy in London, injuring several staff members.
On September 2, 1997, the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan, was attacked, and two guards were wounded.
On February 17, 1999, terrorists stormed the Israeli Consulate General in Berlin. Three attackers were killed in a shootout with security personnel.
On July 30, 2004, a powerful blast occurred outside the Israeli embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, killing at least two embassy guards.
On September 10, 2011, protesters stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo during a demonstration. The attackers partially destroyed a concrete wall built for the embassy’s protection, broke into the building, and threw documents from the windows. The Israeli flag was torn down, and protesters demanded the severance of diplomatic ties and the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador.
And this tragic pattern continues today.
Despite heightened security measures, attacks on Israeli diplomats persist, highlighting the growing erosion of diplomatic immunity in the modern world. Every such incident is not just an act of violence — it is a direct assault on the foundation of international relations. These attacks undermine trust between nations, violate the core principles of diplomacy, and transform embassies — symbols of peace — into targets of war.
The international community must understand: attacks on diplomats are attacks on global order. Condemnation is not enough — there must be coordinated global action to ensure that no diplomat, whether from Israel, Azerbaijan, or any other country, is left vulnerable anywhere in the world.
Azerbaijan, too, has been subjected to this form of terror. On January 27, 2023, at around 8:30 a.m., a man armed with an assault rifle and multiple magazines launched a terrorist attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Iran. In the process of heroically thwarting the assault, the embassy’s head of security, Orkhan Asgarov, was killed, and two others were wounded. This tragic incident served as a stark reminder that diplomatic missions are increasingly in the line of fire, and the absolute protection of such missions must become a global priority.
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