Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka:
The last Israelis left in a picturesque surfing hotspot in Sri Lanka said they felt safe and would stay there despite an Israeli government warning to leave immediately due to the threat of a possible terror attack.
Israel’s National Security Council urged Israelis on Wednesday to leave tourist areas in the southern Indian Ocean island nation, saying there was information about a terrorist threat focused on tourist areas and beaches.
The agency did not specify the nature of the threat, but said the warning applied to the Arugam Bay area – a popular spot for Israelis – and beaches in the south and west of the country.
The US Embassy in Sri Lanka and the German Foreign Ministry also followed suit with similar warnings, prompting Colombo to step up security measures and go on high alert.
Police in Sri Lanka arrested three suspects for questioning in connection with an unspecified threat.
“We are working to ensure that all tourists are protected and their safety is guaranteed at all times,” police spokesman Nihal Talduwa told Reuters.
From September to early October, there were about 600-700 Israeli tourists at Arugam Bay, local officials said, but that number had dropped to just 20 when a security alert was issued this week, which came at the end of the tourist season.
By Friday, 17 had moved out of the area, some of them flying out of the country, leaving behind three Israelis in the southeastern city of about 7,000.
One of them, who has been coming to Sri Lanka since 1991 and is a long-term resident, said he felt safe and expected his wife and 17-year-old twins to join him in a week.
“I love coming here and my family loves coming here and we surf for about three to four hours every day when my sons are here,” he told Reuters on Friday after returning home from his morning surf. “I don’t think there is a serious security threat.
The man, who declined to be identified, said two police officers showed up after the first warnings from security services. There are now 16 security personnel, including police special forces, around his small blue-painted house in Arugam Bay.
Two other Israeli men, brothers who were lounging in their room in a nearby home, surrounded by about eight police and special forces personnel, also said they would stay until the end of the month and then move to the nearby town of Ahangama.
However, Sri Lanka has tightened security, with the memory of the 2019 Easter bombings still fresh. Those attacks, blamed on Islamic State, targeted churches and three hotels, killing 267 people, including at least 45 foreign nationals.
UNPRECEDENTED SECURITY
Checkpoints have sprung up on major roads and bridges in and around Arugam Bay and around 500 police, military and special forces have been deployed.
Police stop vehicles and check passengers’ ID cards.
Israeli officials have warned of increasing threats of attacks against Israelis outside their country since the start of the Gaza war. There has also been a surge in reports of anti-Semitic incidents in many parts of the world since war broke out in the Middle East after the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Residents of Arugam Bay dismissed speculation on social media of tension in the Muslim town over the presence of Israelis following the Gaza war.
“I started renting rooms to foreigners last year and they are happy to stay here because they are not afraid,” said Abubakar Rinosha, 41, who owns the Israeli brothers’ home.
Other residents said Israeli tourists are a major source of income, accounting for 70 percent of the city’s revenue.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published by a syndicated channel.)
