At least 14 people have been killed and 450 others injured in a series of fresh explosions targeting communications devices used by Hezbollah, Lebanon's health ministry says.

Witnesses said the detonations targeted hand-held radios used by the militant group.

One security source said the radios were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, around the same time that the pagers were bought.

Blasts have been seen across the south of the country and in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Lebanon's state news agency reported that some home solar energy systems also exploded.

The Lebanese Red Cross said more than 30 ambulances were treating and evacuating the wounded in the country's south, the Bekaa region and the southern suburbs of Beirut.

At least one of the explosions took place near a funeral organised by Hezbollah for those killed the previous day, when thousands of pagers used by the group detonated.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-19/hezbollah-communications-devices-explode-across-lebanon/104368530

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At around 3:45 local time, thousands of handheld pagers exploded in Lebanon and parts of Syria, injuring thousands and killing more than a dozen people. The pagers were commonly used by Hezbollah fighters, but some civilians were killed, including an eight-year-old girl. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed israel, who has not commented.

“After examining all the facts, current data, and available information about the sinful attack that took place this afternoon, we hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that targeted civilians too,” a statement from Hezbollah reads, adding that the group will continue to support the Palestinian resistance.

CCTV footage from Lebanon showed the devices exploding in civilian areas, including a grocery store. The Lebanese Ministry of Health has urged all citizens with pagers to dispose of the devices immediately.

A #pager explodes, caught on camera while this man was shopping at a grocery store in Lebanon.

Both the Lebanese government and #Hezbollah have blamed Israel for the attack, which has now wounded over 3,000 and killed 9. pic.twitter.com/Lec9esze6Q

— Global Justice News English (@GlobalJSEN) September 17, 2024

Former senior security policy analyst at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Michael Maloof, told Sputnik’s The Final Countdown that the attack seems to be a precursor to a larger attack by Israel on Lebanon. 

“One of my sources said… this is the beginning of what they believe is going to be [an] attack from Israel. And we just heard yesterday that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] said that they were going to look to take on Hezbollah now,” Maloof argued.

According to Maloof, the attack was designed not only to kill and injure but also to interrupt Hezbollah’s communications, a common military tactic before a larger attack.

“The fact that they hit the communications first - that’s what you always go after anyway,” Maloof explained. “This way, it minimizes the ability [of the target] to coordinate and communicate with the elements throughout the country.”

Maloof is not alone in his speculation. Mohamad Elmasry told Al Jazeera that it could portend a large-scale invasion by Israel. “It seems to me what you want to do before a large-scale invasion is to disable or disrupt the communication network of the enemy. I do think we’ll have to pay close attention to what happens over the next few hours and potentially a couple of days."

Elmarsy also noted that Hezbollah has been increasing its use of couriers to send messages and may have to rely on that tactic more heavily in the wake of the attack.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has convened a meeting with top defense officials including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi to discuss “readiness for attack and defense in all arenas.”

“I would expect if Israel is going to do anything, they would do it at this vulnerable moment,” Maloof speculated, adding that he isn’t sure how the attack will come. “Are they going to launch missiles? I haven’t heard any assessments of indications or warnings of troops massing. I think they do have some tanks near the border and troops. Does this mean there’s going to be boots on the ground? I don’t know. Israel is not communicating any of that.”

It is still unclear how the attack was pulled off. A Hezbollah official speaking anonymously told media outlets that the pagers were a new model that included lithium batteries and unnamed security sources told US media that the devices were recently acquired by the Lebanese group, but the reports did not specify a timeline.

Former NSA contractor turned whistleblower Edward Snowden posted on X that it is likely explosives were planted inside the devices, rather than a hack that caused the batteries to overheat.

“As information comes in about the exploding beepers in Lebanon, it seems now more likely than not to be implanted explosives, not a hack. Why? Too many consistent, very serious injuries. If it were overheated batteries exploding, you'd expect many more small fires & misfires,” Snowden said on X.

In a later post, Snowden condemned the attack as "reckless" and "indistinguishable from terrorism."

It could still be possible that intentionally overheated batteries were used to ignite implanted explosives. One anonymous Hezbollah official reportedly told US media that some Hezbollah members noticed that their pagers were heating up and managed to dispose of them before they exploded. Alternatively, modified devices could be used to reroute electricity to an implanted explosive after being given a signal, but that should result in an instant explosion without a heat-up period.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240917/is-the-pager-attack-only-the-beginning-1120183448.html

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The exclusive ‘US urges Australia over UN’s Israel vote’, published in Tuesday’s The Australian by Ben Packham, demands a response.

The article addresses a draft UN resolution advanced by the Palestinian Authority to be voted on in the General Assembly on Thursday (AEST). In essence the resolution demands immediate Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the West Bank in compliance with the 19 July ruling by the International Court of Justice. The US is reported to be urging its allies to reject the draft resolution or abstain from voting on it.

Whilst the article reported that the Albanese Government declined to comment on Australia’s intentions, it was more than prepared to publish the views of Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham. He called upon the government to oppose the draft resolution “without hesitation or ambiguity”. Such reasons as Birmingham gave do him and his shadow government no credit. Let us consider them.

First, it is said to be an extreme and one-sided resolution. But what could be extreme and one-sided about a resolution which simply seeks to implement the decision of the ICJ? That decision is the advisory opinion which the UN General Assembly sought back in 2022 on the issue of the legal consequences of the subject occupation. The opinion was sought with the intention that it would inform the General Assembly as to what appropriate action might need to be taken. The Palestinian authority’s draft resolution simply does just that! How then can it be extreme? How then can it be one-sided? And those questions carry even greater force when it is recalled that the Security Council, by Resolution 2334, dated 23 December 2016, called for pretty well exactly what the ICJ’s opinion, and the Palestinian Authority’s resolution, now calls for: refer Blood: The bitter harvest of breaching Resolution 2334, 29 November 2023.

Next, Birmingham asserts that the resolution is “shamefully silent about Hamas…7 October…and hostages”. Sorry, Simon, those issues have nothing to do with illegal occupation. They can certainly be addressed, as the ICC is attempting to do with the sole Hamas leader still alive, and said to be responsible for the 7 October military operation. As for hostages, there is every reason to believe that were Israel to comply with an adopted UN resolution as now sought, they would be released.

Then Birmingham pouts that the resolution “provides no recognition of Israel’s right to exist”. Why does he seek to raise such an irrelevant consideration? Neither the ICJ, nor the draft resolution, seeks to question Israel’s right to exist in any way. Birmingham clearly takes the Australian public as idiots.

He then asserts that the resolution involves actions “contrary to Australia’s long standing positions” and “would undermine Israel’s right to self-defence” and “would be counterproductive to peace efforts”. Once more he seeks to mislead. Australia’s longstanding position has been to seek a two-state solution. The resolution would establish just that. How would that undermine Israel’s right to self-defence? It would create a situation where the need to defend Israel would dissipate. In any event, nor does the resolution prohibit the UN taking steps to ensure peaceful implementation of the resolution.

That then deals with Birmingham’s follies. The article concludes with a contribution from AIJAC’s executive director Colin Rubenstein who throws in that the resolution would “reward Hamas’ terrorism”. Again, the resolution seeks to give effect to the ICJ advisory opinion. It does not reward Palestinian resistance, anyone, or anything: it seeks only to apply international law.

Rubenstein concludes with the ridiculous assertion that the resolution would repudiate Australia’s 30-year policy of “supporting a two-state negotiated peace settlement between the two parties”. Any thinking person would have to ask why such a policy has produced no result in 30 years. And how can there be a negotiated peace settlement when one of the parties, Israel, has flatly rejected a Palestinian state? What is there then to negotiate?

It must be noted that no-one — Penny Wong, Birmingham, Rubenstein, nor The Australian — questions that the resolution seeks to give effect to the ICJ ruling, or that that ruling is in any way questionable.

Finally, it must be said to the editor of The Australian: why are you publishing such tripe?

https://johnmenadue.com/un-vote/

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“This is a genocide of children,” said Heba Gowayed, a sociology professor at the City University of New York’s Hunter College.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Sunday released a document containing the names and ages of Palestinians killed by Israel’s assault since the Hamas-led 7 October attack, an incomplete list that nonetheless runs to 649 pages – the first 14 of which are filled with the names of babies.

The list, published to the health ministry’s Telegram account, is limited to those for whom Gaza officials had information — over 34,000 people — and the count stops on 31 August. The current death toll, according to the ministry, is close to 42,000, but experts believe that figure is likely a gross undercount.

The new document is a testament to the devastating impact Israel’s US-backed war has had on Gaza’s population, particularly children. According to Gaza officials, children make up a third of those killed since 7 October.

“This is a genocide of children. 14 pages of babies. Babies,” Heba Gowayed, a sociology professor at the City University of New York’s Hunter College, wrote on social media in response to the list. “This is nothing short of an attempt to expunge a people.”

The Gaza Health Ministry’s statistics are considered credible by independent watchdogs and have been cited internallyby US officials, notwithstanding President Joe Biden’s public questioning of the data. In June, the US House approved an amendment that would bar the State Department from using statistics from the Gaza Ministry of Health.

But after examining an earlier list of names published by the ministry, the research group Airwars found “a high correlation between the official MoH data and what Palestinian civilians reported online”. The group acknowledged that gathering data has become increasingly difficult “as Gaza’s health infrastructure has been decimated by the war”.

Trita Parsi, executive vice-president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote that the newly published list highlights “what differentiates Gaza”.

“It’s a genocide of children since their proportion is unprecedented,” Parsi wrote, adding that the “US, UK, and Germany arm and support the genocide.”

Republished from Common Dreams, September  16, 2024

https://johnmenadue.com/gaza-officials-publish-list-of-those-lilled-in-israeli-assault-the-first-14-pages-are-babies/

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The race to find the maker of the pagers that exploded in Lebanon has taken an unexpected turn - towards a Taiwanese company few had heard of until this morning. 

At least 12 people were killed and nearly 3,000 injured in Tuesday's explosions targeting members of the armed group Hezbollah, which set off a geopolitical storm in the Middle East. 

Caught in the crisis, Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo's founder Hsu Ching-Kuang flatly denied his company had anything to do with the attacks.

Instead, Mr Hsu has said he licensed his trade mark to a company in Hungary called BAC Consulting to use the Gold Apollo name on their own pagers. BBC attempts to contact BAC have so far been unsuccessful.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9qvl3vlvlvo

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By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com.au

If some other governments — say Russia, China or Iran — were even suspected of being responsible for Israel’s terror attacks on Lebanon, U.S. officials would be churning out denunciations.

The death toll has risen to 12 from Israel’s terror attack in Lebanon on Tuesday which detonated explosive materials hidden in thousands of pagers. 

Another 20 people were then killed in another attack on Wednesday with a second wave of explosions, this time using walkie talkies and home solar energy systems. 

The total death toll now sits at 32. Two children and four healthcare workers are among the dead. Thousands have been injured.

As you would expect, Western empire managers are getting really squirmy about this. 

White House spokesman John Kirby adamantly refused to answer any questions involving Israel’s responsibility for the attacks during a press conference on Wednesday, despite Israel being widely reported as the responsible party, with outlets including The New York Times citing U.S. officials as their source.

“I’m not gonna speak to the details of these incidents,” Kirby said repeatedly when questioned about Israel’s role and what the U.S. response will be.

It goes without saying that if a government like Russia, China or Iran were even suspected of being responsible for similar attacks, Kirby and his fellow podium people would be not just naming the suspected aggressor but fervently denouncing the attack as an act of terrorism. 

And it is here worth reminding readers that in 2017, a leaked State Department memo explained in plain language that it is standing U.S. policy to overlook the abuses of U.S. allies while denouncing the abuses of U.S. enemies in order to undermine enemies and show other countries the perks of being aligned with the United States.

The memo showed neoconservative empire manager Brian Hook, then director of policy planning at the State Department, teaching a previously uninitiated Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that for the U.S. government, “human rights” are only a weapon to be used for keeping other nations in line. 

In a remarkable look into the cynical nature of imperial narrative management, Hook told Tillerson that it is U.S. policy to overlook human rights abuses committed by nations aligned with U.S. interests while exploiting and weaponizing them against nations who aren’t.

“In the case of U.S. allies such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines, the Administration is fully justified in emphasizing good relations for a variety of important reasons, including counter-terrorism, and in honestly facing up to the difficult tradeoffs with regard to human rights,” Hook explained in the memo.

“One useful guideline for a realistic and successful foreign policy is that allies should be treated differently — and better — than adversaries,” Hook wrote. 

“We do not look to bolster America’s adversaries overseas; we look to pressure, compete with, and outmaneuver them. For this reason, we should consider human rights as an important issue in regard to U.S. relations with China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. And this is not only because of moral concern for practices inside those countries. It is also because pressing those regimes on human rights is one way to impose costs, apply counter-pressure, and regain the initiative from them strategically.”

It’s tedious saying “If Group X did this Western politicians and pundits would condemn it but because Group Y did it they’re fine with it” over and over again, but it’s important to highlight these discrepancies because they show how we’re being deceived.

[See: Reminder: US Weaponizes ‘Human Rights’]

Westerners are indoctrinated from birth into believing they live in a society that is basically good with governments that, while imperfect, are still far superior to the tyrants and corrupt autocrats of the global south.
In reality the Western power structure centralized around the United States is the single most murderous and tyrannical force on earth by an extremely massive margin, but that obvious fact is always omitted from the indoctrination curriculum.

By pointing out the glaring discrepancies between the way the Western political-media class responds to things like Israel turning electronic devices into thousands of bombs placed throughout civilian populations and the way they respond when other groups detonate explosives among civilians, you’re helping to punch holes in the veil of indoctrination they have cast over our collective understanding of the world. 

The more you recognize that you only see your society as good and others as bad because of the way world events are framed by Western news media and politicians, the closer you get to having your, “Are we the baddies?” epiphany.

Hypocrisy and contradiction are not great moral evils in and of themselves, but they often run cover for great moral evils. 

The fact that we are trained to think about the world by people who facilitate great evils perpetrated by their own side when they’d condemn identical evils committed by their enemies shows that they do not stand against evil, and are deeply evil themselves.

Recognizing the problems in our world is the first step to solving them. That’s what the propagandists and empire managers work to prevent us from doing, and that’s what we try to do by pointing out the glaring plot holes and inconsistencies in their narratives over and over again.

The correct thing to do when Western leaders talk about human rights or denounce abuses by enemy governments is to mock them and dismiss them. 

They’re not saying anything true about their actual values and beliefs; if they were, there wouldn’t be so much hypocrisy in the way they denounce governments they don’t like for offenses they ignore and make excuses for in governments they do like. 

They’re never saying what they’re saying to stop human rights abuses or make the world a better place, they’re only saying what they’re saying to undermine their enemies so that the Western empire can rule the world and be the only one administering abuse.

And the same is true of the mainstream Western press. You’ll see them completely ignore the abuses of U.S.-aligned governments while showing immense interest in alleged abuses by empire-targeted groups, often on very flimsy evidence. 

Mock them and dismiss them when they act like they care about human rights abuses. They don’t care. They just want to make sure the abusive power structure they conduct propaganda for is the one in charge.

Caitlin Johnstone’s work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following her on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube, or throwing some money into her tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy her books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list at her website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything she publishes.  For more info on who she is, where she stands and what she’s trying to do with her platform, click here. All works are co-authored with her American husband Tim Foley

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/09/19/caitlin-johnstone-war-crimes-western-hypocrisy/

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Thousands of Lebanese citizens, injured or murdered by apparent Israeli planted explosives in pagers and other communications devices, are referred to as Hezbollah operatives, even though victims have included small children.
A macabre picture does not end there. The public is given the usual either or account of slaughter in a war depicted as between Israel and its enemies, hence invitations to politicians to take sides. This binary convenience ignores the sadism inherent in Israel’s claims about defence, let alone questions about international law or values concerning a common humanity.

Expect more deceit and denial by exceptional Israel, assume crippled Hezbollah is obliged to say it will seek revenge and know for sure that mainstream media will be excited about the technology required to place explosives in pagers.

Even a quick unpacking of this latest Lebanese catastrophe reveals issues which need to be addressed if perspectives about peace might be heard.

The Israelis announce the next barrage of military solutions, their recipe for a future dependent on brutality, death, destruction, fear, and killings in the most modern form. Their barely concealed pride in military solutions is reported by mainstream media thirsty for the latest drama. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announce war on another front. Pulverising another side brings victory. No-one should challenge Israel’s decades-old fascination with killing. The idea that justice for Palestinians would mean security for Israel sounds like blasphemy.

Accounts from the other side of this war come from Hezbollah spokespersons or from powerless Lebanese citizens whose hospitals can’t cope with the thousands suffering beyond belief injuries. The description “murder” sounds clean cut. It conceals horrific injuries. A Lebanese surgeon reports experiences unprecedented in his years of medical practice. Among hundreds of casualties he witnessed organs protruding, faces blown away, eyes destroyed, hands which missed fingers, lower abdomens ripped apart and all this in hospitals with too few resources.

Who cares? Emotions should be stifled, reactions geared for a new kind of warfare. If enemies can be labelled unworthy, there should be no limit to the brutality dished out to them. Get used to it. The technology in military solutions will improve.

Mainstream media’s response perpetuates the either or accounts even to the point of taking sides. In descriptions of Hezbollah supporters, newsreaders repeat the same formula used when referring to Hamas, but this time it’s “Hezbollah, identified by Western governments as a terrorist organisation”. There’s no comment about well-organised state terrorism, no pause to consider whether terrorists caused this slaughter by pagers. Imagine the media uproar about terrorism if one Israeli citizen was killed by a remote explosion.

Who cares if you’ve been conned to focus your judgments on one side of this war-for-ever equation?

The plight of Lebanese, Palestinian or Israeli children prepared to take sides for wars is a common humanity question ignored by narratives about two sides in the carnage in Lebanon. The description “war” is as deceptive as claims about murder. The lifelong misery of men, women and children who suffer terrible injuries is treated as some after-thought. Better each night to see pictures of Hassan Nasrallah promising revenge, watch men in khaki sitting round a table, presented as brave in their thirst for brutality, or listen to spokespersons telling lies and never challenged.

In those contexts, pleas for the interests of a common humanity sound like respect for non-violence. Theories about the conflict necessary to conduct politics become supposed strong men’s real politick: non-violence coupled to rules in international law should be derided.

Witness the Australian Government’s latest cowardice, as in their abstention on a UN resolution demanding Israel end its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank within a year. No sign of concern for a common humanity, only allegiance to the notion that wars and illegal occupation should continue.

In the pager killings, and in the ways they have been reported, lies a terrible danger. International law is of no consequence. Rules of war are being rewritten. A so-called international community is asked to accept murder should prevail. Don’t dare to think beyond that.

Hezbollah may fire rockets. No one should be squeamish about horrific injuries. Supported by US war machines, Israel will decide.

Cowardly nations will look on, but still mutter “rules-based order”.

Catastrophe in Lebanon shows the need to rescue humanity which otherwise remains lost in struggles between an inevitable two sides, armed with the last rocket or with this latest achievement, the science fiction explosive pagers.

Anomie is a state of lawlessness. Kill and destroy the only option. Best to abstain. There are no rules.

https://johnmenadue.com/pager-slaughter-in-lebanon-humanity-of-no-consequence/

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Israel's military has launched an investigation after its soldiers were filmed throwing the bodies of three dead Palestinians off a rooftop during a raid in the occupied West Bank. 

Footage of the incident, filmed in the northern town of Qabatiya, near Jenin, then appears to show an Israeli military bulldozer picking up and removing the bodies.

The images have sparked widespread outrage. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday that it was “a serious incident” that did not “conform” to its values and what was expected of its forces.

Local Palestinian officials say at least seven people were killed by Israeli forces in Qabatiya on Thursday.

Under international law, soldiers are obliged to ensure that bodies, including those of enemy fighters, are treated with respect. 

The IDF said it carried out a counterterrorism operation in Qabatiya, during which four militants were killed in an "exchange of fire" and three others were killed after a drone strike on a car.

A journalist in Qabatiya told the BBC that on Thursday morning Israeli troops had surrounded a building in town. 

He described how four men who were in the house then escaped to the roof and were shot by snipers. 

Fighting continued in the town and when it had subsided, he then said he saw Israeli troops go up to the roof and drop the bodies down over the side, where they were then loaded onto a bulldozer.

Asked about the incident shown in the footage, the IDF said: "This is a serious incident that does not conform with [our] values and the expectations from IDF soldiers. The incident is under review."

The military said that one of those killed in Qabatiya was Shadi Zakarneh, who it identified as being "responsible for directing and carrying out attacks in the northern West Bank area".

It said he was "the head of the terrorist organisation" in Qabatiya but did not specify which group he belonged to.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in the West Bank, described the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter, as a "crime" which exposed the "brutality" of the Israeli army.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby described the footage as "deeply disturbing".

"If it's proven to be authentic, it clearly would depict abhorrent and egregious behaviour by professional soldiers," he told reporters. 

There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing war in Gaza.

More than 690 Palestinians have been killed there since then, the Palestinian health ministry says, as Israeli forces have intensified their nearly daily search and arrest raids.

Israel says it is trying to stem Palestinian attacks in the West Bank and Israel, in which at least 33 Israelis have been killed. 

In Gaza, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli military action, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8jg0x5xg8o

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