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| AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes |
Back in the late 1980s to early 1990s, the only people with pagers were doctors and drug dealers. And if you happened to be friends with a doctor or drug dealer, you learned to call the pager and leave a numeric code. (We even figured out a way to pass along football scores.) This communication process wasn’t turnkey, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.
But pagers, of course, went the way of the typewriter and telegraph machine. Nowadays, the only people who still use pagers are, well, doctors and drug dealers. (Lots of hospitals have lousy cell reception, so the medical staff is armed with pagers.)
And terrorists, too. (At least they used to.)
The media is trying to form-fit Israel’s intelligence triumph into its larger narrative on the Israel-Palestinian conflict: Israel is the mean ol’ warmongering aggressor, while the brave and noble Arabs simply want to live in peace. The longstanding narrative hasn’t changed an iota; same song, same verse. Consider the media drumbeat just today:
“Resistance groups denounce Israel’s cyberattack on Lebanon”
“Lebanese envoy calls paper explosions ‘war crime’ at UN General Assembly”
“‘Thirst for blood’: Syria says Israel terror attacks in Lebanon shows its ‘desire to expand war’”
“Palestinian Resistance condemn Israeli attack on Lebanon, praise Hezbollah”
“Belgian Deputy PM calls Hezbollah pager incident ‘terror attack’”
“International condemnations pour in after Israeli terror attack on Lebanon”
Meanwhile, antisemitic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) described Israel’s actions as “Disgusting.” Because of course, she did.
No matter: This is an example where the media are neutered because they don’t have the power to change any of the facts on the ground right now. And speaking of neutering, since most people keep their pagers in (or attached to) their pants pockets, those explosions likely hit a sensitive part of the terrorists’ anatomy. (Ahem.) Yesterday evening, balls were flying all across Lebanon — yet nobody was playing soccer.
The only thing that would’ve made Israel’s actions funnier would’ve been if they triggered the beepers to play a few bars of "Hatikvah" before detonating. --->READ MORE HERE
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Wednesday night tweeted this – I am not messing with you:
“Israel’s pager attack in Lebanon detonated thousands of handheld devices across of a slew of public spaces, seriously injuring and killing innocent civilians. This attack clearly and unequivocally violates international humanitarian law and undermines US efforts to prevent a wider conflict. Congress needs a full accounting of the attack, including an answer from the State Department as to whether any US assistance went into the development or deployment of this technology.”
Here are a few items missing from the Congresswoman’s bizarre diatribe:
1. Every last beeper that was blown up on Tuesday and walkie-talkie on Wednesday had been disseminated by Hezbollah to its members. Not a single Lebanese innocent civilian should have had one of them in his or her hand – if Hezbollah had caught them with its instrument in their hand they would have cut off said hand.
2. The US government classifies Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Intelligence estimates suggest the group possesses an arsenal of tens of thousands of rockets. This military capability has sparked worries that Hezbollah’s attacks that began on October 9, 2023, are an attempt to escalate the Israel-Hamas fighting into a more extensive regional war.
3. As legal expert Prof. Eugene Kontorovich put it eloquently in a Wednesday night tweet: “In international law terms, the pager operation is a classic act of sabotage, which is legal under International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Those protesting the attack on Hezbollah cell phones would have been crying over bombs placed on Nazi Germany’s train tracks.”
Noah Rothman wrote in the National Review on Wednesday (Their Problem Is That Israel Won’t Roll Over and Die): “If this is the reflex to which the Biden administration is prone, you can see why the Israelis declined to inform their American counterparts in advance of the spectacularly innovative and logistically impressive acts of sabotage targeting Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and Syria this week.”
Like Kontorovich, Rothman wonders what exactly constitutes a violation of “international humanitarian law” in the context of blowing up the beepers of known terrorists. He noted that the International Red Cross defines it as a subset of “international law,” which itself comprises agreements between states, typically in the form of treaties or conventions. These agreements are, in principle, binding on the signatories. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories:
+++++Israel degrades Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists in spectacular pager explosion operation: experts+++++
'Second Wave' Attack on Hezbollah Targets Walkie-Talkies and Other Electronic Equipment
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