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Yves here. Even though we had a lot of information about the Israel attack on Hezbollah via pagers-turned-bombs in Links, more detail is coming out. One element, which the Common Dreams article below highlights, is that the attack comes despite the captured-by-Israel supposed negotiator Amos Hochstein having had, the day before the pager blasts, told Israel not to escalate with Hezbollah. So it’s not hard to see this act as a raised middle finger to US calls for moderation, and the claim that some Hezbollah fighters had uncovered that the pagers had been tampered with, a fabrication.
As many commentators have pointed out, Israel hard-liners and above all Netanyahu, is eager to get the US committed to backing Israel in a bigger conflict. It seems likely that they regard between now and the US election a prime time. The Biden Administration would have to act; the trick would be presenting Israel as threatened, as opposed to having picked a fight and gotten a punch back. Netanyahu is also under ever-increasing domestic pressure, so an increased external threat, even if he had ginned it up, would be welcome.
Some additional information from The Cradle. Hezbollah maintains the attack has not affected its operations:
Hezbollah stated on 18 September that its operations against Israel would continue normally, reiterating its vow to respond to the large-scale Israeli terror attack against Lebanon in a statement on 18 September.
The Lebanese resistance will “continue today, as in all the past days, its blessed operations to support Gaza, its people, and its resistance, and to defend Lebanon, its people, and its sovereignty,” Hezbollah’s statement read.
Hazbollah also maintains that there were pager-users that were not Hezbollah members, as in innocent civilians. This is in addition to civilians in the detonation area of Hezbollah pagers, such as two children out of the 12 deaths so far:
Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim al-Moussawi said that the pagers that exploded were not only in the possession of Hezbollah members but others as well.
A consequence of the attack may be Egypt taking a particularly hard line regarding Israel demands for greater control of the so-called Philadelphia corridor, on the Gaza’s border with Egypt. This is a very fresh story from Middle East Eye:
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Wednesday said that Cairo will not accept changes to the “rules of operation” in the Philadelphi Corridor that were in place before 7 October, particularly regarding the rules governing the operation of the Rafah crossing on the Palestinian side.
During a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Abdelatty emphasised Egypt’s complete rejection of any military presence on the other side of the crossing or in the corridor, which is the narrow strip of land over the entire 14 km border between Egypt and Gaza.
Abdelatty added: “We cannot hold the future of stability in a vital region like the Middle East hostage to the absence of political will on the part of some parties. Therefore, we will continue our efforts to exert influence and pressure until we can reach an agreement that ensures stability in the region.”
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is set to speak more or less now, so I will add an update. Update: Oopsie, the initial source was wrong. Nasrallah to speak Thursday.
By Jake Johnson, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams
Several news outlets confirmed late Tuesday what was widely suspected: Israel’s military and intelligence services were behind the explosions of pagers recently purchased by the Lebanese political party and militant group Hezbollah.
The explosions, reportedly set off earlier Tuesday by a message that appeared as if it was from Hezbollah’s leadership, killed at least 11 people—including an 8-year-old girl—and wounded thousands more.
Citing both an unnamed former Israeli official with knowledge of the operation and an anonymous U.S. official, Axios reported that “Israeli intelligence services planned to use the booby-trapped pagers it managed to ‘plant’ in Hezbollah’s ranks as a surprise opening blow in an all-out war to try to cripple Hezbollah.”
“But in recent days, Israeli leaders became concerned that Hezbollah might discover the pagers,” the outlet continued. “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his top ministers, and the heads of the Israel Defense Forces and the intelligence agencies decided to use the system now rather than take the risk of it being detected by Hezbollah, a U.S. official said.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department publicly denied that the Biden administration was involved in the attack or aware of the operation in advance.
Heidi Matthews, an associate professor at the Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, wrote Tuesday that “each explosion constitutes an indiscriminate attack,” pointing to video footage of a pager detonating in a crowded market.
“Under these circumstances,” Matthews added, “this is an act of terror.”
בסופר ובחנות הירקות: תיעוד נוסף של מכשיר קשר מתפוצץ לפעילי חיזבאללה בכיס@anastasia___stu @OmerShahar123 pic.twitter.com/OcjQsGLhvv
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 17, 2024
The New York Timesreported Tuesday that Hezbollah ordered thousands of pagers from the Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo, but the company denied making the devices. According to the Times, which cited unnamed officials, Israeli operatives “tampered with” the devices “before they reached Lebanon,” planting in them “as little as one to two ounces” of explosive material and a switch “that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.”
Heightening fears of a broader conflict, Hezbollah pledged Tuesday to retaliate against Israel over the attack, which reportedly injured Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon as well as Hezbollah fighters and medics.
The Guardian‘s Andrew Roth noted Tuesday that just “a day before the coordinated sabotage, Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to [U.S. President] Joe Biden, was in Israel urging Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials against an escalation in Lebanon.”
Netanyahu has repeatedly sabotaged cease-fire negotiations with hardline demands in recent weeks as the Israeli military—heavily armed by the U.S.—continues to assail the Gaza Strip.
“While U.S. officials have said that the basis for peace along Israel’s northern boundary with Lebanon would come through a cease-fire in Gaza, that agreement has proven elusive and appears no closer to fruition,” Roth wrote Tuesday. “The White House had hoped that a period of quiet around Israel would allow for cease-fire negotiators to achieve a breakthrough, as intermediaries shuttle between Hamas and Israel to thread the needle of both sides’ complex demands regarding a hostage exchange and territorial claims.”
“That period of quiet has now been shattered with a breathtaking act of subterfuge and Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate,” Roth added.
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While it may simply be a determined effort by Netenyahu’s government to escalate towards conflict with Iran, another factor may be recent large Hezbollah attacks on Glilot base in Israel. The base was reportedly a HQ of Israel’s Unit 8200, an electronics intelligence corps. This unit would presumably have been involved if not in control of the pager explosives operation, so the mass detonation could also in part be a retaliatory strike for recent casualties in Glilot base (The base strike reporting was under IDF censorship restrictions which western media outlets tend to abide by also so there hasn’t been a lot of reporting about it)
Oh, my.
This strike might not have been commanded from the top. The Israeli army is very young, with a lot of very young officers. It’s possible that some 22-year-old “colonel” pushed the button on his (her) own recognizance. Or that this was an accident that happened during the frantic cleanup after the attacks on Glilot.
Three separate individual attacks? Pull the other one.
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his top ministers, and the heads of the Israel Defense Forces and the intelligence agencies decided to use the system now rather than take the risk of it being detected by Hezbollah, a U.S. official said.”
Nope. Don’t believe it. This was not a military decision but one made by Netanyahu for political reasons. He is running his war in much the same way that Zelenski is running his war in the Ukraine. Both are obsessed with their own political and personal survival over the lives of their people or and the fate of their countries. And when in retaliation Hezbollah causes a mass casualty event in Israel, it is all going to be on Netanyahu’s shoulders but he won’t care as then he can run to Washington and demand that American troops, planes and ships go fight in Lebanon.
Not like Zelensky who has little agency in his approach to the war which is run largely by NATO. Netanyahu has the full support of the US and runs his own policy because if the US does not do his bidding there will be electoral fallout. Netanyahu is a political master–he’s very, very good at what he does. Zelensky is, while great at PR, not in the driver’s seat most of the time. Israelis know they are at war and the reward is Greater Israel which many Israeli’s believe will be facilitate by whatever god or spiritual power they believe in–check it out many in Israel really believe in that and maybe their right.
The real blowback to Israel (and the West) might be the reaction from the companies involved in production and sales of the pagers and their countries. Motorola is now owned by Lenovo, a Chinese company. I’d assume their ckntractors/suppliers are also Chinese or Taiwanese (I think the actual manufacturer is Taiwanese?). They want to keep doing business in the Global South and they don’t want terrorists and other criminals tampering with their products. One would assume that the Chinese state will be suppoeting their efforts as well.
What is your logic? That the Global South, after this event, will not want to buy from China? That they will want to buy maybe directly from Israel, or USA or the European countries under the CIA’s thumb? So that the Chinese government will have to stand up and do something to save their sales?
Lenovo had nothing to do with it. This was supposedly a pager made by a Taiwanese company but the company said the particular exploding lot was made by a Hungarian licensee.
A US official said….
So US didn’t know about it ahead of time? Huh, yea tight.
I would be very interested to know what US officials, dimwitted careerist as they are (at least at State), think about this new face of the crisis in Israel/Palestine. To me they appear clueless but maybe they have some strategy other than full scale war in the region because that is where this is going.
To reiterate, out front, the only goal of Israel’s government and its people is some version of Greater Israel. They know that they partly control US policy in the region through the Zionist money men on Wall Street and elsewhere. Zionist Jews in the USA (a minority) are fanatically obsessed with Israel (I’ve talked to some of these people over the years) and will oppose or support candidates based on their attitude towards Israel. Netanyahu is where he is because of his ability to manipulate the US government like no other has before him. In order for him to steer the course towards eliminating Palestinian people, again supported by citizens of Israel and their supporters in the USA, he must have war in the region now before Iran and its allies have time to improve (particularly AD defense) their military power. This is why the Israelis provoked Hezbollah with its terrorist attack. Israel survives or falls based on its ability to terrorize their neighbors.
The Israeli endgame is to overwhelm the resistance axis with attacks on many levels until Iran and the resistance finally retaliates which, may happen. Once it does the US will support Israel no matter what as they do including building ovens and roasting the Palestinian people, or so it seems. Once the US acted as a brake to the more extreme Israeli policies but that is no longer the case, in part, because the US citizenry is both asleep and increasingly amoral or just confused.
Looks like the retaliation may have already happened, and before the pager attacks. I believe Cradle is pretty reliable, and according to this article, the Yemenis hit Tel Aviv with a hypersonic on Sunday – https://thecradle.co/articles/yemens-hypersonic-ballistic-missile-rocks-israels-defenses
Apologies if this was already mentioned, but I hadn’t seen it until now and it seems rather important. I’m guessing Yemen didn’t independently develop hypersonics on their own. Some propaganda from the Yemenis in that article to be sure, but depending on how many they have and their willingness to use them, Iron Dome might not be of much use.
I have very rare comments if any at all about Ukraine and Palestine. I am just not qualified. I do feel qualified as a human being, however. What I saw in these videos and photos yesterday was just spectacular evil. I see a grocery store where there are completely innocent little old ladies standing around. I see a guy get taken down just standing next to the guy with the pager – his crime was looking at oranges. I see all kinds of kids and toddlers on streets.
What if one of these things had gone off in a plane?
And yet I see all of our neocon types filling Twitter this AM with rapturous glee. It was one thing, for example, for Liz and Dick Cheney to endorse Harris last week. Anyone can endorse anyone – and the endorsee has no control over that. It was another thing entirely, however, for Harris and her allies to openly celebrate these endorsements. Mrs Walz had it very right the other day – a page has been turned.
This action yesterday in Lebanon has all the markings of what ghouls like the Cheneys and other neocons are all about. They partied on about this stuff for many years.
And now we have the Dem candidate and her allies celebrating them. And by extension, celebrating what happened yesterday in Lebanon. We are indeed headed into a very dark place. I think we have already passed the event horizon.
But again – can someone tell me how a vote for Kamala is not a vote for instant WWIII? The GOP is not much better – but I think at least Trump seems to understand the consequences. With the Dems – it is obvious they are brainwashed into “We are invincible – and we are sooo RIGHT in our morality – we will never be defeated – woe to anyone who stands in our way.” I am doing my very best to get my family and my friends ready for what is coming. The blowback is going to be for the ages.
The DT sometimes has a great line of BS, but he is a notorious conman and bullshitter. (He also tells intelligence-insulting lies). We saw the huge disconnect between the blah blah and the actual policies during his first term. However, he tore up the INF treaty, accused Russia of not abiding by it, he increased sanctions on Russia, attacked Russia’s allies and interests, and continued support for Ukraine. He appointed Eliot Abrams, Michael “Fat Mike” Pompeo, John Bolton, that speaks volumes right there. He recently threatened countries who drop the dollar.
Despite the facts, folks still WANT to believe the BS from a conman, but “Fool me once…”
The D/R Bipartisan Consensus is crystal clear when it comes to foreign policy, Israel etc. If you believe the Rs are somehow better, you might want to look into that a bit. Lindsey Graham is a poster boy for the Rs
This is rich: “he tore up a treaty – accused Russia of something, he increased sanctions on Russia, attacked Russia’s interests, and supported Ukraine. He appointed bad people (in your opinion) and he threatened countries regarding the dollar” ……… such a mean person.
Then again dems have started wars ((Biden 2, Obama 4) and sold bombs to Israel (for corporate profit) that blow up and starve women and children with purpose, not by accident.
I propose that repubs are a lesser evil.
You will believe what you like, it’s not facts it’s faith and political religion. Forgive me for criticizing the Lord and Savior, but I also criticize the Ds equally. Such a pity that
our choices are genocide or lesser evil genocide.
Hooray for evil! Vote Genocide, It’s the American Way!
To wit what a wretched point to argue. Neither side is going to give succor. It’s like choosing between a Ford or a Chevy.
Yeah, Coke or Pepsi? Both are artificially colored, artificially flavored sugar water and both are terrible for health.
It’s Kang or Kodos …
As Homer Simpson said, “don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos…”
While I don’t trust the Donald, he did not start any new wars and tried to end others. The decision to leave Afghanistan came from his administration, and he tried to withdraw from Syria. That last part didn’t happen, despite a presidential order – https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-troops-syria-iraq/
But we’re supposed to believe that Trump is the “threat to our democracy” when he gives orders that are ignored with impunity. More on that – https://thehill.com/policy/defense/441240-mattis-ignored-orders-from-trump-white-house-on-north-korea-iran-report/
St. Obama sacked generals for less than that.
Agree about our choices and won’t be voting for genocide, and probably not at all. But I do think it’s important to point out how Trump’s orders were ignored, something the corporate media never mentions when they tell us to be afraid, very afraid. Neither candidate is going to help Gaza, but any further crackdown on civil liberties in the US is going to come from the party Dick Cheney currently supports.
He may not have started a war but not for a lack of trying. It will always stick in my mind how his administration assassinated Sulemani. A war in that region would be be an inmitigated horror show and they were willing to open plam slap the red button with enthusiasm.
Indeed, and why I don’t trust him. There was also debacle in Venezuela his administration sponsored.
But my main point was that he was openly defied, which doesn’t back up the claims that he is going to destroy “our democracy”.
Your’s is a good point as to why I will be voting for Jill Stein if I bother going to the polls at all.
I do not trust either one of them KDH or DJT. I am done with the “lesser evil.” Both candidates and their parties are supporting a genocide. The two-state-solution and ceasefire in Gaza are snake oil. Two states are impossible and have been for many years. Bibi does not want a ceasefire. He wants the Palestinians gone, how or to where or to the graveyard is immaterial to him. I suspect it is immaterial to the many within the DC Bubble and Echo Chamber and the cheerleaders outside it who bleat and shed crocodile tears. I cannot say anything fit for this forum about those who are enthusiastic supporters of mass murder and forced removal of people from places in which they have lived for time out of mind. I was twelve when Truman recognized the state of Israel. I thought it the right thing to do. Clearly I was ignorant of Zionisms unwavering intention. Now it is clear to anyone with eyes to see. So I shall not be casting a vote for Harris nor a vote for Trump nor for anyone else at any level of government who supports this obscenity. I know full well it changes nothing. It does allow me to feel that my hands are a little cleaner.
I will say to you what I say to all my friends who say they aren’t going to vote – vote for Jill Stein. It is a protest vote. You are saying neither side is any good and neither side is worthy of your vote. The bigger the showing of the Greens – and at this point, they are the most viable of the Third Parties – the bigger the chance we have of finally getting Third Parties into Congress and one day, into the Executive branch. If you don’t like the Greens, take heart, very few of us voting Green think they have a snowball’s chance in Hell! Remember, it is your protest.
As for Trump, I recall him desperately trying to overthrow Maduro in Venezuela and replace him with a US puppet. I also recall the anti-Chinese rhetoric getting revved up under Trump. He might get us out of Ukraine but he will stir things up in China – very likely getting us into a conflict in the Far East – not a peaceful option. And let’s face it, he is a racist, Zionist, homophobe, sexist, man who makes fun of the disabled. He hardly has the diplomatic skills to represent the US and is, quite frankly, an utterly despicable human being. I’m not defending the Democrats either – just sayin’ . . .
You mention at least 2 GOP neocons in your list that have endorsed Kamala Harris – or at a minimum are now Trump hating MSNBC gabberjaws.
Correct me if I am wrong – but are you not making the point that I was above?
One thing I absolutely NEVER saw coming as a Dem would be the wholehearted embrace of the neocon whackadoodles – but here we are. These neocons by their own actions and words are clearly no longer GOP.
That speaks volumes to me.
Yes, it’s called the Bipartisan Consensus. There is no functioning democracy in the US, yet people are still mesmerized by the stage-managed spectacle. The plebs must be divided and distracted at all times. No matter who “wins”, the US will continue to fund Israel and genocide, and foreign policy will continue, despite the rhetoric of serially-mendacious politicians. That is crystal clear, but is easier to believe in fairy-tales and get caught up in the Election Delusion Syndrome, than to admit the cold ugly truth. The faithful of both “sides” ignore the fact that the DT and KH fall all over themselves to pledge more support for Israel. DT says KH “hates” Israel and HE will bend over even farther for Israel. Nice eh
https://substack.com/@simplicius76/p-148557048
With the second assassination attempt of Trump, my bet offer of 1 year ago that he will not be president on January 21, 2025 is looking better. It is not because he is a good person (on the contrary!) or has “good” policies that he is a danger. It is because 1) he has nothing to lose by doing whatever he wants to do (can’t run again for president and so won’t “owe” any big money or power centers that support him now); and 2) he is unpredictable, which is terrifying for the blob, ruling class, Deep State, whatever you want to call it.
I would bet the reverse. The efforts to kill him will continue and increase (copycat effect) and one will succeed.
I’m sure you had a good (as in gory) idea of the injuries. Nevertheless:
https://www.ft.com/content/15efdcc8-e98f-473c-a018-c3c7e9e586cf
Yes.
Beyond the terrorism, the dems do not hide where they stand, they’re proud of it. And proud that the Cheneys are acknowledging that it’s the dems now carrying the warmongers’ torch.
Oddly, a friend was outraged when I used that ‘honorific’ to describe Biden/harris… I guess the endless wars are all righteous and necessary, not that we just like wars.
My hope is that trump, if elected, manages to live long enough to reduce bear and dragon poking.
“I do feel qualified as a human being, however. What I saw in these videos and photos yesterday was just spectacular evil…”
Absolutely so.
I can’t think of anything more evil than blowing up children and elderly, with body parts and blood/guts all over the streets with the stench of burning flesh all around. And this is all being paid for by the USA
IM Doc, “but I think at least Trump seems to understand the consequences” How is it you can say this about trump, with all that we have seen coming from him. Is this pure hope on your part? Trump moved the US Embassy at the behest of Zionists. His son-in-law was filmed saying that once Gaza is “cleaned up” there will be some great ocean front property available. Like Niki Haley he’s urged Israel to ‘finish’ the job. What evidence is there that trump “understands” consequences of anything he’s ever said or done? Ask the Haitians now struggling with bomb threats in their Ohio town. Trump understands nothing but “winning” – why help him in any way?
During the debate, Trump decried the imminent threat of nuclear war & promised to end the Ukraine abattoir. He seems to have a rudimentary concept about the limits of imperial power & seems prepared to negotiate instead of testing those limits militarily. That said, a vote for the Greens makes strategic sense to me, if only to gain future ballot access & matching funding.
John Steinbach – “During the debate, Trump decried the imminent threat of nuclear war” Trump has been relying on Laura Loomer for campaign points – she of the “pet eating” lie (he was seriously oblivious to ‘consequences’ there). She has been saying that the Dem party will drag us into WW3. Impaired in his own way, trump “is” the last person he talks to. His campaign speeches are basically updates of the old advertising slogan: Promise her anything, but give her Arpege. Thinking that trump will be a different person than he’s always been is absolute folly. I understand hope is powerful – but please – review the man’s record.
DJT has said sensible things every now and then. During his term, did he ever follow through on those sensible notions? Not that I recall. Has anything changed? Not that I can see.
KDH is a tabula rasa on which are being scribbled all the talking points … not ideas, not proposals … talking points of the people who are pulling her strings.
I look at this coming election as an avalanche gathering momentum. I see nothing positive no matter the outcome, assuming we can find an outcome without the intervention of creative vote counting, the courts, or insurrectionist activity.
In 2016 there was a poster with a stylized version in red, white, and blue of the H.P. Lovecraft character Cthulhu with the caption, Why Not the Greater Evil. In this year of grace each branch of the uni-party sees the other as the greater evil, sees the other as a flatly unacceptable choice. What does that suggest?
Congrats on being an optimist, but I find it harder and harder to believe that “future ballot access and matching funding” has any purpose in what’s coming down the pike. An habitable world seems to be the thinnest of wishful thinking, the zionists have bought, and own, the democratic party the republicans were never, in my lifetime, anything but old cheese, the greens are going nowhere, and hoping that voting will offer a real, believable chance to rescue the country, to halt The Catastrophe, is just one more log on the fire. If I could go back in time, and watch the old game show, Password, one last time, I’m certain that Alan Ludden would be staring into the camera, whispering, ‘The password is extinction.’
Perhaps one needs to guesstimate the Democrats response to a Trump administration.
The Democrats have spent the last almost 8 years demonizing Trump, so it might be a problem for Democrats to suddenly embrace a re-elected Trump’s actions, even when they align with widely held neoliberal Democrat beliefs.
Maybe, just maybe, there would be some Democratic push back against “fascist” President Trump.
While complaining about Democratic “socialism”, the Repubs seem to get what they want from Democratic administrations, see Obama healthcare, very limited prosecution and regulation of the financial industry and MIC favors.
Harris may be regarded by some as a better person than Trump, but a new President Trump + an engaged actively opposing Democratic party may be better for the USA/world than a Harris administration that does what various interest groups/MSM (and Republicans, quietly,) support.
I know people who state that “Obama wanted to do the right things, but the Republicans prevented this from happening.”
One can observe that a lot of Democrats fully embraced George W. Bush and all the harm he did.
Why is it the Democrats never seem to have a “prevent defense”?
I would suggest actually reading the splendid IM Doc. The destruction just wrought in Lebanon is intolerable. Ronald Reagan stopped such an attempt at destruction in Lebanon with a rough-tough insisting phone call.
We are indeed passing through an astonishingly militarist administration. Where there was peace during the last administration, we are so deeply at war now that waking up to the New York Times in the morning is by turns deeply saddening and frightening with no softening to be expected from Biden-Harris-Blinken and the like. Biden-Harris-Blinken directly threaten China seemingly every other day now.
Will there be accountability for violating a plethora of international war? Based on history, highly improbable, so Exhibit 1 in the Rules Based Order (RBO). Given a choice, who would choose to live in the RBO?
There is no “rules-based order” unless you can show me the rules published somewhere. The fact is RBO is a fiction–or, more precisely it is based on Washington’s diktats. If you’re Washington then its the “anything goes order” (AGO). International law, as it was once supported by Washington is dead; the Geneva Conventions on War is totally gone and should not be mentioned any more that other as a historical curiousity. And we actually live in a lawless world and, increasingly, we are headed for a version of AGO now inside most of the Empire.
There might have been a desire at the end of the Second World War, when the current international system was set up, for a rules based order, but it became a “rules for thee, but not for me” system instead.
THE RULES-BASED ORDER
a rules-based international order
1. The USA rules the world.
2. The USA makes all rules including these rules.
3. No one can know what the rules are, only that they exist.
4. No one is allowed to ask what the rules are.
5. The USA will be in charge of the flexibility provided by the rules’ non-existent nature.
6. Non-western countries must be regularly castigated for not following the rules.
7. Western countries must be regularly praised for following the rules.
8. Alternative rules of governance which work successfully (cf. China, Singapore) must always be derided as “authoritarianism”.
9. Unfair global dominance by the 13% western minority (cf. totalitarianism) must always be referred to as “democracy”.
10. These rules over-ride all other rules, including fundamental justice and the laws of nature.
https://twitter.com/NuryVittachi/status/1678242821176950785
There is no “rules-based order” unless you can show me the rules published somewhere. The fact is RBO is a fiction–or, more precisely it is based on Washington’s diktats. If you’re Washington then its the “anything goes order” (AGO). International law, as it was once supported by Washington is dead; the Geneva Conventions on War is totally gone and should not be mentioned any more that other as a historical curiousity.
Elijah Magnier is claiming that a neighboring country withheld the devices in customs for 3 months allowing Israeli operatives to modify them into what amounted to miniature shrapnel grenades containing steel balls.
https://youtu.be/1bvPqzsp9y0?si=L5su9ew7dJrC0s7k
Wouldn’t “neighboring country” have to mean Syria? Or does he mean neighboring a bit more widely?
(Jordan would be my first guess in the latter case.)
Jordan, Cyprus, or Turkey would be my guess. All 3 with extensive US/UK spook connections. I’m leaning mroe towards Cyprus if only b/c it would be less “compromisable.” (Besides the actual sovereign UK spook facilities legally beyond local jurisdiction–even more than Incirlik, which, besides, is nominally under USAF administration, at least the US controlled part, rather than US intel agencies–Cyprus is not an Arab/Muslim country without the kind of antipathy for Israel among the population as in Jordan or Turkey.)
hk: Cyrus. Hmmm. I have been harping on Cyprus for a few weeks. You describe them as “the actual sovereign UK spook facilities legally beyond local jurisdiction,” but they are two sizable military bases controlled by the U.K. and extraterritorial to Cyprus.
Then the oh-so-clever Brits would have put the pagers and walkie-talkies back into commerce.
Turkey and Jordan don’t make sense to me.
Cyprus has to be reunified, and the Brits have to be kicked out. There is much going on in the Middle East that can be attributed to those two bases — and no one is talking about it. E.g., air defense of Israel against Iran by French and U.K. aircraft. Do we think that they are flying in from Edinburgh?
Unfortunately there appears to be a second act. Al Jazeera is reporting on multiple blasts in Lebanon:
Multiple explosions in Lebanon after pager blasts
Limited information as of now.
From your link (Al Jazeera) I see a photo captioned People gather as smoke rises from a mobile shop in Sidon [Hassan Hankir/Reuters]. This leads me to believe that at least some of the tampered electronic devices are present in the retail section. Make of that what you will.
It appears the devices in today’s attack were not pagers but ICOM v82 walkie-talkies:
Large number of injuries reported…
Apparently these were received around the same time as the pagers, but no information if they were commonly sourced (or likewise detained — presumably so).
Also here -> https://thecradle.co/articles/lebanon-hit-by-second-wave-of-israeli-terror-attack-as-new-explosions-rock-nation
Just to throw this in the discussion: there is a “Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices as amended on 3 May 1996”, which defines “Other Devices” as such:
5. “Other devices” means manually-emplaced munitions and devices including improvised explosive devices designed to kill, injure or damage and which are actuated manually, by remote control or automatically after a lapse of time.
The protocol states that:
8. The indiscriminate use of weapons to which this Article applies is prohibited. Indiscriminate use is any placement of such weapons:
a) which is not on, or directed against, a military objective. In case of doubt as to whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used; or
b) which employs a method or means of delivery which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or
c) which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.
The parties having signed and ratified the treaty include Israel, Lebanon, and the USA.
Amongst the multiple reservations asserted by Israel, only one concerns “Other Devices”:
Israel reserves the right to use other devices (as defined in Article 2 (5) of the Amended Protocol II) to destroy any stock of food or drink that is judged likely to be used by an enemy military force, if due precautions are taken for the safety of the civilian population.
The USA has a similar exclusion, and also:
The United States shall not recognize the jurisdiction of any international tribunal to prosecute a United States citizen for a violation of the Protocol or the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
I am not a lawyer and all that, but should Israel be found to be the culprit, and the pagers be found to fall under the category of “manually emplaced devices” (they were manually emplaced in the packaging boxes sent to Lebanon, right?), this most probably constitutes yet another gross violation of international law by that country — but when it comes to building Eretz Israel, it is obviously “in for a penny, in for a pound”.
As I mentioned above, there is no such thing as international law or the Geneva Conventions of War, or treaties other than the “rules-based order” which is another way of saying whatever diktats come out of the imperial capitol. The agreement, or any agreement any one in good favor, such as Israel, with the Empire is null and void. This should be obvious.
The powerful who feel themselves beyond the law are immune only as long as they have the power to protect themselves with, which is not practically possible for long term. This is how empires fall and Israel is not even the empire proper (like Gorchakov said to Danish leaders in 1860s, “you’re not 70 millions (i.e. Denmark is a tiny country).”) If they accumulate hatred through abuse of their power (to paraphrase Machiavelli: his rule of thumb being respect > fear > love >hatred), their day of reckoning can arrive only faster.
It is one thing to say international laws have no teeth, are hard to enforce, or never enforced.
It is quite another thing to say they don’t exist.
This claim is disingenuous at best and does nothing to address the utter barbarity of what Israel has done.
As the Protocol makes clear, these provisions only apply in a state of armed conflict, which broadly is large-scale violence between states, or between states and organised groups. No court would accept that there was a state of armed conflict in Beirut.
I don’t think there’s really any law that covers this: the easiest way to think of it is as a government sponsored terrorist attack, but such attacks are in general prosecuted by domestic courts.
Domestic courts in Lebanon, I assume?
Yes, not that I would put much store by that. The only remotely comparable example I can think of was the assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005, where an International investigation team was set up, and a number of people were tried at a court in the Hague in absentia.
That International investigation was just a bad joke that was used by the west to go after different people. The whole thing was a political stunt that was never about justice and for all we know, it could have been Israel that set off the bombing to create chaos in that country.
So you don’t think it was a part of an ongoing armed conflict between a state and an organized group? What, prey tell, you think is the context of this attack?
I think Aurelien is getting at a “legal” context. Whether there is a “legal” state of war that justifies use of, let’s say, peculiar methods of warfare seems to be in a limbo. If anything, Israel and the West seem to want it both ways: if there is an actual war, Hizb’ullah would have done nothing illegal for at least a quarter of a century, for example.
By any standards, there is an armed conflict in the area south of the Litani river, and in areas where there is an armed conflict, the laws of war apply. In Beirut there is not an armed conflict, so normal criminal laws apply. The difference is that if there is an armed conflict, then all sorts of things (notably killing enemy combatants) are allowed, which would not normally be allowed in peacetime. Collateral damage and the death of non-combatants are not crimes provided every reasonable precaution is taken to minimise them, whereas in the absence of an armed conflict they would be crimes. The law of armed conflict is basically an attempt to make sure that, when normal criminal law is suspended, there are at least some safeguards about the use of force. It’s not that a state of armed conflict justifies anything, it’s rather that a different law applies.
In Beirut there is not an armed conflict, so normal criminal laws apply.
Except for Israeli airstrikes in Beirut — to kill Hamas honcho Saleh al-Arouri in July, and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr as well as Iranian military adviser Milad Bedi in January, that is.
It’s like ISR looked at its War Crime Bingo Card and realized that “State Sponsored Terror Against Civilians” was blank.
What’s next, a poison gas attack on Beirut?
“… Amos Hochstein having had, the day before the pager blasts, told Israel not to escalate with Hezbollah. So it’s not hard to see this act as a raised middle finger to US calls for moderation…”
On the other hand, the US has issued requests for moderation many times before, while approving more shipments of weapons and continuing full support. There are no consequences for (seemingly) disobeying Washington. The US stated support of Israel is “unconditional”, so it looks like a PR game. The US can say, “we tried to negotiate, we tried to moderate.blah blah blah” to distance itself from the wildly unpopular policies. This appears to be standard practice over the years.
I have no evidence, but I would not be surprised if US intelligence was aware of the situation in advance.
What would Israel have to do in order for the US to react with action, not words? The Israelis can murder US citizens in the open (Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, Shireen Abu Akleh, Rachel Corrie) with impunity. Almost every member of Congress is fine with genocide, as well as the exec branch, so it would have to be worse than that to get a negative reaction from the US
Depends what you mean by “Washington” since there are competing factions within the National Security State. One faction is called the CIA and it’s stable of contractors which, to be realistic, has a position senior to the WH and Congress.
This evil act of pure terrorism tells anyone with a functioning brain cell who the actual terrorists in the Middle East are and have always been: the fascists of the Revisionist Zionist/Stern Gang/Likud faction whose express goal for 90 years has been the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, in opposition to the peaceful immigration that once might have been.
I am disgusted by Antony Blinken and U.S. government spokespersons yammering-on about “we are gathering information” while the usual “unnamed sources” tell their scriveners at NYT, WaPo, and CNN in excruciating detail how the government of Israel carried out this act of indiscriminate savagery. America promotes neither “rules” nor “order.”
And where is this clown Erdoğan? Not a drop of the Azerbaijani or Kurdish fuel being used to support settler terrorism should be allowed to pass through any Türkish port, in particular Ceyhan, terminus of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipelines. All of the so-called “leaders” of the purportedly “Islamic” nations are motivated by nothing but personal greed. The settlers would sue for peace tomorrow if deprived of their tainted petroleum.
Erdogan is a typical politician playing the “two level game” One line of BS for the domestic population, then the actual policy – he hasn’t and won’t do anything substantial. Syria is still occupied, not much help, Jordan, Egypt are vassals of the US/UK. KSA is still under the thumb of Washington. Libya and Iraq have been largely destroyed and quasi failed states. That leaves Iran, Hezbollah and the “Houthis” as the axis of resistance.
Anybody here remember the original Batman movie from 1989? The plot involved the Joker poisoning beauty products with the result being that people had to stop using them.
As far as film goes, rather hark back to “Munich” (2005) than Batman…
I never thought that my opinion of the demonic Zionists can get any lower. But this event has proven me wrong. If someone tells you that this war will end when Hamas “surrender”, immediately throw that person into the bin. Israel will not stop until the entire region is doused in flame and they stand upon a mountain of corpses.
It should be noted that Israel has the will and the ability to identify and effectively eliminate only enemy combatants. Blowing up Hezbollah pagers in Lebanon is not terrorism. Rather, Israel’s senseless massacre of civilians in Gaza, despite its ability to identify only Hamas members, should be called terrorism.
Even if all of the principal targets were military personnel, and they absolutely were not, it’s not legal to kill soldiers who are hors de combat.
Did you skip past the video of an explosive being set off in a market? This is near the worst of state terrorism. That your first statement is probably true makes what follows nonsense. By any sensible definition, both the genocidal collective punishment campaign and the psychopathic and instigatory assassinations are terrorism, as in indiscriminate, brutal violence to instill widespread fear.
The two children killed in this attack — one was an 8 year old girl — were “enemy combatants”?
Stop spreading misinformation. We said early on that many of the pager-carriers were medical workers. Two of the dead were hospital staffers. Hezbollah is not just a militia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah_social_services
Apparently, there’s a second wave of this terrorism occurring as we speak.
Apparently using Icom V-82s, which are made in Japan.
Methinks that western firms are going to lose a lot of contracts in the Middle east who will buy their products direct from China or maybe Russia from now on. Trust has been broken and seriously, who wants to be a pager salesman in the Middle east right now?
Perhaps people will now understand that there is no opsec if they have digital devices on their person. If you want to be a revolutionary or protester, anywhere in the world, you need to go low tech.
If pagers can be booby-trapped to explode, why not cell phones? Why not all sorts of “personal digital devices,” including laptops? Wasn’t it Edward Snowden who revealed that thousands of mail-order laptops had been intercepted by US intelligence agencies so that “malware” could be installed before delivery to consumers? Why not “bombware”?
In any event, if I were a prominent critic of Israel or the U.S. empire I would take a close look at all my devices — maybe with the assistance of a bomb-sniffing dog. Israel has long been a laboratory for innovative spy and military technologies — and, no doubt, the US security apparatus will be deeply interested in this unprecedented assassination technique (if they didn’t develop it themselves.) I recommend that people think twice about keeping their cell phones in their pockets, or anywhere close to vital organs. Maybe bomb-proof Kevlar phone pouches will become popular — like those bulletproof backpacks for schoolchildren. A new Pandora’s box has just opened.
>If pagers can be booby-trapped to explode, why not cell phones?
Israel has long been doing this.
The other day the Government Emergency Alert System broadcast a test which caused all cellphones to sound a repetitive warning which did not cease until cancelled on the phone
The pagers emitted a sound repeated and loud such that people lifted it to their face to read and cancel – that is what activated the bombs
Now if I have my phone in a Kevlar pouch how do I read the Emergency Broadcast Info on my phone ?
Just as the desperate Ukrainian attacks inside Russia — even the blowing up of an entire Russian ammo dump yesterday — can be called strategic pinpricks, all of Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah, Ansar Allah, Iran, and Syria amount to pinpricks strategically.
The result is a hardening of most nations around the world against Israel, such as the 124 nations who voted yesterday in the UN General Assembly demanding Israel get out of Gaza and the West Bank. It has especially hardened the nations that count in the region, which now includes Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Russia, and China.
Israel can blow up all the pagers, radios, even toasters and TV wands they want, but it cannot defeat Hamas, it cannot stop the Houthis or Hezbollah from attacking anywhere in Israel they want to, and they most certainly cannot do anything to Iran while it is supported by Russia and China as a key link in their Belt and Road Initiative. The USA cannot actually supply Israel with endless weapons, or endless troops, or keep its Navy nearby when Israel’s enemies have hypersonic missiles. Nor can America send Israel enough shrink-wrapped cash on pallets to keep its economy from collapsing.
Strategic and tactical facts on the ground are only going one way, and that is the rapid collapse of the entire Zionist project. No amount of religious insanity can keep it going. The only serious wrinkle is whether the Israelis will use nuclear weapons as they exit the stage.
Just dropping some additional data points here, but for those that wonder where pagers would be used in today’s world:
Intrinsically safe pagers are still being used in hazardous areas:
Intrinsic safety https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrinsic_safety
Motorola Intrinsically Safe Pagers https://www.motorolasolutions.com/content/dam/msi/docs/business/products/pagers/minitor_v/_documents/static_files/minitor_v_combo_brochure_final.pdf
Depending on where I was working, I’ve had to use them on occasion.
I doubt if this played into the situation being discussed here, but just trying to make everyone aware that pagers are still a thing in certain situations.
The Israelis are just following their form. They murdered w0unded British soldiers in a field hospital in WW 2.
After all they are the chosen people of god. They also removed the inhabitants of the are at least twice before One lead by Joshua and the second following return after the Assyrians captured them.
This one is a result of the Romans deporting them.
Lord Moyne; King David Hotel; Count Bernadotte; Sgts. Clifford Martin and Mervyn Paice ……..letter bombs in post boxes in England
The list is endless – but it is now a touchstone – just as Lockdown and COVID let people see of what character people were by their response – so they can judge people by whether their moral standards are compromised by supporting evil acts and psychopathic behaviour by a supposed civilised nation state
Per AP, via Yahoo News, this morning Yoav Gallant (Israeli Defense Minister) said:
“We are at a new stage of the war” and “the center of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces.”
IMO, this increases the likelihood that the pager (and walkie-talkie) explosions were intentionally timed as first stages of an IDF attack on Lebanon. OTOH, it’s still quite possible that the pager attack was triggered earlier than planned, and that the IDF is now hurrying to take the next steps. Either way, I expect much bigger news on that front within a few days.
In any case, Netanyahu probably thinks that Israel has to attack Lebanon *before* the US Presidential election. Until Election Day, Biden has to stick with “unconditional support for Israel” with the exception of occasional tut-tutting about civilian casualties in Gaza. After the election – no matter who wins! – Biden becomes a Lame Duck and can do whatever he wants.
Biden has been a strong “Friend of Israel” throughout his [very] long political career, but he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would easily forgive or forget the way Netanyahu has treated him, the Presidency, the Democratic Party, and the USA. IMO, Biden Unchained is likely to say out loud exactly what he thinks of Bibi, and it probably won’t be “fit to print” in the NYT.
More importantly, a lame-duck Biden could shut down the pipeline of US military and financial support for Israel, and even a temporary halt (perhaps reversed after Inauguration Day?) would cause real problems for Bibi & Israel. Even if he doesn’t go that far, Biden would be unlikely to cooperate with any new War Plans Bibi has in mind for us.
We should always leave room for optimism.
There’s a chance you are right–Biden may put some roadblocks up; however, he is not “in charge” but has to align forces and some of those forces can assert their agenda without Biden.
Does Biden even reliably know what day it is?
Maybe not, but I’d bet you a big bucket o’ beer that he remembers the way Bibi has shat on him, Obama, the Presidency, the USA, and the American people.
Here is some further news on that front right now:
Israel moves 98th elite force from Gaza to Lebanon front
“With about 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers, the paratroopers and commandos will now join the 36th Division under the Northern Command.”
We should always leave room for optimism.
I present to you the two problems I see for those of us appalled by the neocon/neoliberal embrace of violence and militarism.
Right now elections don’t really matter as on this front (and others) there is no lesser evil because lesser or not their policies and records are still evil.
And two, the evil is embedded in our military, our bureaucracy, our financial institutions, intelligence services, and even our media, social and traditional. It has been purchased, developed, and encouraged over decades, and is not dependent on elections to exist and function.
Not to endorse Trump or Obama but both were outright ignored when they attempted to take a saner response in the Middle East. Which is why the unlikely election of a president Stein, despite being a tremendous thing and a huge middle finger to the major parties, won’t be able to change things.
I am considering a vote for Trump despite this, but only because my Democratic controlled state and the bureaucrats they hire have shut down my ability to make a weak tea pressure valve releasing third party vote. I may be voting Republican for Congress as well depending on the final ballot. The difference between now and a decade ago is that I am well aware that this is a cry in the wilderness, a delusional act, spitting in the wind. That the faint hope is that the cry is heard by others, the delusion shifts reality and the wind changes direction.
And The hubris exhibited by Israel, the Democrats, the intelligence community, and the media may finally rip the masks away and fuel that rebellion.
This is an act of criminality and unparalleled stupidity even for Israel. It requires ALL airlines to now ban all electronic devices on board airplanes including laptops and Gameboy and even noise-damping headphones.
It makes EVs and modern cars with data-set links highly dangerous.
Israel should be quarantined.
There is simply no way devices can be trusted. Even TVs and DVD players become risky.
The story now is that Bulgaria was where these fake pagers were assembled – clearly Czechia did not like being blamed. Strange that anyone in EU is making pagers in competition with China – must have aroused some suspicion somewhere inside EU-NATOWorld
This is a Lockerbie Scenario revived