Israel is adding security personnel at its international airport in response to threats by Islamic militants to attack Israeli and U.S. targets, including airlines, officials said Monday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's senior adviser, David Bar-Illan, said Israel would use all measures it deemed necessary to fight terrorism.
Asked whether this included pre-emptive strikes, Bar-Illan told The Associated Press: ``I don't want to be specific about anything but obviously we are not ruling out anything.''
Threats against U.S. and Israeli targets emerged after last week's U.S. air strikes in Sudan and Afghanistan that were aimed at Osama bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire and Islamic militant linked to the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa this month.
On Sunday, a leading Muslim activist close to bin Laden said Islamic militants are preparing to retaliate for the air strikes by targeting U.S. and Israeli strategic sites and airliners.
A U.S. basketball team from the University of Connecticut, which arrived Monday for a nine-day tour of friendly games, hired two private security guards to accompany them in Israel.
``The administration of the University of Connecticut demanded bodyguards and we readily agreed,'' said the teams' tour operator Nels Hawkinson. ``Had it not been for the bombings in Afghanistan and Sudan we would not have seen the need,'' he said.
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