JERUSALEM: Israel's press on Tuesday said the attacks on embassy staff in India and Georgia, which were blamed on Iran, were unlikely to spark a major response but raised fears they were the start of a wave of attacks.
Monday's bomb attacks targeted an embassy car in New Delhi, leaving an Israeli woman diplomat critically injured, while the second incident targeted an embassy car in Tbilisi, but the bomb was discovered and defused.
Israel immediately blamed Iran and its Lebanese "proxy" Hezbollah, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to act "with a firm hand" to eradicate "international terror coming from Iran."
But press commentators said Israel was unlikely to respond harshly to the attacks.
"The bombings sparked the usual tough rhetoric from Israeli officials ... Nevertheless, a harsh Israeli response is seen as unlikely," the left-leaning Haaretz daily said.
"Monday's attacks were still limited enough that they didn't violate the 'rules of the game,'" it said, indicating they may have been an attempt to avenge the assassination of four Iranian scientists over the past two years, which were widely blamed on Israel.
"If, as is widely believed, Israel is behind a recent series of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists in Tehran, government officials presumably knew that Iranian revenge attacks were likely and took that possibility into account," it said, noting that both incidents involved "relatively low-level targets" and caused few casualties.
"Israel is not about to go to war over the bombing of a diplomatic car in New Delhi and an attempted bombing in Tbilisi," the Jerusalem Post said.
"But if Iran and Hezbollah continue their efforts and succeed in perpetrating a large attack producing greater casualties and devastation, the government will have a difficult time holding itself back."
Many papers suggested the attacks, which followed on from several failed attempts against Israeli targets in Azerbaijan and Thailand over the past few months, were only the start of a wave of attempts targeting Israelis overseas.
"Israel views both terror attacks yesterday as part of a surging wave of terror attacks," wrote commentator Alex Fishman in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot.
"It is unlikely that the Iranian intelligence officer in Tehran who is responsible for organising this wave will win a promotion for his achievements so far," he wrote.
"But the existence of this wave means that there are additional terror cells out there in other places on the planet, which are continuing to seek an Israeli target. The order given to make every effort to get Israel to stop killing Iranian scientists has already been issued, and these attempted terror attacks will continue."
On January 13, Thai police arrested a Lebanese man with suspected links to Hezbollah on suspicion he was preparing to attack tourists, with Israeli officials warning its citizens to avoid Bangkok due to "a serious and imminent danger."
A few days later, Azerbaijan said it had arrested three men who were planning to attack two Israelis working at a Jewish school in Baku, prompting the Israeli foreign ministry to raise the level of alert at its diplomatic missions around the world, press reports said.
Following Monday's attempted bombings, the ministry raised the state of alert at its worldwide embassies "to the highest existing level due to concern that the coordinated attacks in New Delhi and Tbilisi are just the beginning of a wave of terrorism," Maariv reported.
And on Tuesday, police in Israel also raised the state of alert across the country, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
"Israeli police have increased the general state of alert in Israel, with emphasis on security in public places and areas, including foreign embassies and places of foreign interest, such as the airport," he told AFP.
The method used by Monday's attackers was very similar to that used by assassins involved in killing four Iranian scientists, who used magnetic bombs attached to their vehicles.
The attacks took place between the anniversaries of the deaths of two top Hezbollah militants, whose deaths were blamed on Israel and sparked vows of revenge from the Shiite militia group.
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