Israeli House in Georgia founder thanks state security service for foiling assassination attempt targeting him

Itsik Moshe, the founder and chairman of Israeli House in Georgia, on Wednesday extended his gratitude to Georgia's state security service for foiling the assassination attempt made by a group of individuals with Pakistani and Georgian-Iranian citizenships who had targeted him.

The service on Tuesday announced its counterintelligence department had prevented the assassination of an Israeli citizen by a group of individuals, who were promptly arrested. 

• Georgia’s state security service prevents assassination of Israeli citizen

In its announcement, the agency also said it had identified the person who had ordered the crime - reportedly an Iranian national living abroad - and their accomplices, and noted “complex operational and investigative measures” were in progress over the case.

In his social media post, Moshe thanked the Israeli president Isaac Herzog for his “encouraging words and support” throughout the developments, adding “and of course, many thanks to the security service of Georgia for exposing and thwarting the terrorist attack. There is a lot of work and things to do. We continue and prepare for a new working day”.

The Israeli media on Tuesday responded to the incident by reporting Georgian security officials had foiled an attempt by the Quds Force, the extraterritorial arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, to kill a prominent Israeli-Georgian living in Tbilisi.

An Israeli security official noted this was not the first time Iranian forces had tried to attack Moshe.