Israeli intelligence has helped stop terrorists from using civilian aeroplanes in Europe to carry out major attacks “of the worst kind”, Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.

The Israeli prime minister told a group of ambassadors from Nato countries that his nation’s intelligence agencies had “helped save many European” lives by passing on warnings of jihadist plots.

He did not give details of the thwarted attacks but said they “involve civil aviation”.

“We have, through our intelligence services, provided information that has stopped several dozen major terrorist attacks, many of them in European countries. Some of these could have been mass attacks, of the worst kind that you have experienced on the soil of Europe and even worse, because they involve civil aviation,” Mr Netanyahu said.

Israel has a formidable intelligence apparatus and Mr Netanyahu often uses his country’s intelligence gathering capabilities as a calling card as he tries to improve Israel’s diplomatic standing around the world.