Message to Hezbollah is clear

Thousands of pagers that had been handed out to Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon over the past few months exploded on Tuesday, 17 September, killing 12 people and injuring 2 800. This is the most bizarre news. One wonders who still uses pagers, and how whoever detonated them was able to do it.

At first, I thought it was some kind of joke, because it seemed unrealistic to imagine that anyone was still using pagers in this day and age. Such old technology!

Obviously, the world’s fingers immediately pointed at Israel, but Israel hasn’t confirmed nor denied any part in this. Truth is, I would be surprised if it was anyone else, not least of all because of Israel’s technical expertise and intelligence abilities. Who else is capable of launching such a sophisticated attack that so carefully targets terrorist operatives? This attack certainly takes this war into a new realm, that of cyberspace.

Now, before I go on, I have to say that I’m a peacenik and hate that there could have been anyone innocent killed in this attack. Apparently, the child of a Hezbollah leader died, and that is truly tragic.

However, in terms of Israel taking on Hezbollah, this attack was priceless. Hezbollah leaders must be running around like headless chickens right now because their entire communications system appears to have been scuppered. Also, they are now fully aware that whoever did this to them knows a whole lot more about their workings than they think.

It’s clear that those behind this attack knew that Hezbollah had warned its operatives not to use cellphones or emails, opting for this ancient technology that doesn’t use data or apparently can’t be traced or geolocated. So much for that!

I used to use a pager back in the 1980s up until the emergence of cellphones here. They were useful for bosses as they could contact you, but they were a pain in that to respond, you had to find and use a public telephone.

Because pagers use radio waves, they aren’t easy to trace. This is why Hezbollah opted for this, as I understand. I’m sure those operatives hated those pagers as much as I did. They certainly do now!

My understanding is that this must have been many months in the planning because somehow, the pagers had to be intercepted and altered between having been ordered from the Far East and delivered to Lebanon. Then, they had to be handed out far and wide before anything like this was worthwhile.

I would have said that this attack has Israel’s fingerprints on it because the message it sends is massive, but the death toll is very small considering the scale. Israel, as we know, does whatever it can to prevent the death of innocent people and focuses its attacks on terrorists.

The message, however, is clear: We know who you are, where you are, and have access to all your intelligence, so don’t mess with us.

As for those operatives who were injured, they must surely be anxious that their bosses don’t know what they are doing and are putting their lives at unnecessary risk. Hopefully, this will have an impact on further recruitment. Not that I think any leaders of terrorist organisations worry much about their operatives’ lives. It’s all about destroying Israel and its people. Everyone else appears to be just cannon fodder in pursuit of this.

However, there’s no doubt that this attack, which took place all around Lebanon, hit its intended mark. There is no doubt that this is Israel trying to stop Hezbollah for its constant onslaught since 7 October. Although Israel’s war has been directed at Hamas, the terrorist organisation behind the massacre and the hostage taking, Hezbollah has had a big part to play.

Since 7 October, Hezbollah has fired more than 7 500 rockets into Israel from Lebanon, and reportedly has 150 000 missiles pointed at Israel, according to the American Jewish Community website.

Every day, there are exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Tens of thousands of Israelis have had to evacuate their homes in northern Israel and move to the safety of the middle of the country. And there they have stayed for most of the year because it’s too dangerous for them to return home.

Last weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that this situation was unacceptable and intolerable, and couldn’t go on. He said clearly that it was time to change the balance of power and get Israelis back home.

Just days later, this pager attack happens. So, while it has effectively put Hezbollah’s communication on hold, injured its fighters, and affected morale, I wonder what the next step will be in this war?

Is there any chance that Israelis will be able to head back home to northern Israel? Unfortunately, I doubt it. But will it escalate the war?

A vital point in this attack is that I’m sure a sense of pride has been restored to Israeli intelligence – if Israel was behind this – because its reputation was so badly damaged on 7 October when it didn’t anticipate the massacre. It also does give some sense of levelling the playing fields.

But does it indicate that we are closer to the end of the war? I don’t believe it does. Does it bring us any closer to bringing home the hostages? Not at all. Does it push forward the signing of any ceasefire agreement. No.

I pray for a miracle – that somehow the hostages are brought home and can see in the new year in Israel. Imagine if on Simchat Torah, we could all look back on this nightmare as being a part of our history not our present.

Shabbat Shalom!

Peta Krost

Editor