It depends whom you ask: political sources denied yesterday the various reports according to which Israel or the Israeli embassy in London had received warning from British security services before the terror attack; but sources in the Israeli embassy in London say that immediate warnings were already received on Wednesday.

Sources close to Sharon and Israeli intelligence sources said last night that no warning was received about the intention of terror organizations to stage a series of terror attacks in London. The terror attacks in London also came up in the weekly situation assessment meeting held yesterday by the defense minister. Mofaz inquired whether security officials had received any warnings of an expected terror attack in London-and the answer was negative.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom also rejected the various publications regarding a warning received by the Israeli embassy. Shalom added further that the Counter-Terrorism Bureau had not recommended to refrain from traveling to London.

British officials also said that they had no advance information. We had no warning, said yesterday Brian Paddick, a spokesman for the London police.

But the denials issued yesterday in Jerusalem and London came as a surprise to a number of sources in the Israeli embassy in Britain. According to knowledgeable sources in the embassy in London, a report was received on Wednesday afternoon from the British internal intelligence service MI5 (the counterpart of the GSS) and the Special Branch in charge of VIP security, stating that there were immediate warnings of impending terror attacks by al-Qaida. The sources emphasized that these were not specific warnings but rather general warnings, of a type that has already been received in the past.

According to the ranking of the British Special Branch, Israeli Ambassador to Britain Zvi Hefetz is considered third on the list of the most highly guarded figures in the UK-after the queen and the prime minister. Hefetz receives particularly close protection in light of the threats and numerous past attempts to attack Israeli diplomats in Europe, and particularly in light of the severe attack on ambassador Shlomo Argov in June 1982

This piece ran in Yediot Ahronot on July 8th, 2005

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