Israel’s Tally of War Crimes in Lebanon Increases in Wake of Exploding Pagers

 

The Israeli bombing of a residential neighborhood in Beirut is also a war crime.

Photo: A young Iranian boy in northern Tehran, Iran, holds a candle at a roadside memorial with flowers and flag of Lebanon's Hezbollah in front of the Lebanese embassy for a young Lebanese girl killed in Israel's deadly pager attacks, on September 18, 2024.

Morteza Nikoubazl / NurPhoto via Getty Images

By

 

Marjorie Cohn 

Truthout 

Sept 23, 2024 - This latest targeting of Lebanese civilians comes on the heels of Israel’s detonation of hand-held electronic devices in civilian areas of Lebanon on September 17 and 18, when Israeli forces remotely triggered multiple explosions of electronic pagers and walkie-talkies that killed at least 37 people, including a 9-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, and maimed or injured 3,250 people, 200 critically. About 500 people suffered severe eye wounds and others received grave injuries to their hands, faces and bodies. The blasts occurred in residential buildings, barber shops, grocery stores, cars and at funerals. Many civilians, including government and hospital workers, were killed.

Elias Warrak, an ophthalmologist at Mount Lebanon University Hospital in Beirut, treated several of those injured by the blasts. He told the BBC that between 60 percent and 70 percent of the patients he attended had to have at least one eye removed. “Some of the patients, we had to remove both eyes. It kills me. In my past 25 years in practice, I’ve never removed as many eyes as I did yesterday [September 17].”

Israel’s weaponization of 3,000 to 4,000 pagers and walkie-talkies programmed to explode simultaneously constituted “terrifying” violations of international law, according to 22 independent United Nations experts, including 13 special rapporteurs.

The radios and pagers were reportedly distributed to people associated with Hezbollah, which includes both military and civilian individuals. “At the time of the attacks there was no way of knowing who possessed each device and who was nearby,” the experts noted. “Simultaneous attacks by thousands of devices would inevitably violate humanitarian law, by failing to verify each target, and distinguish between protected civilians and those who could potentially be attacked for taking a direct part in hostilities.”

 

After 11 months of genocide in Gaza the UN Security Council has yet to make any effective action to halt Israel’s attack on Palestinians. UN member states have made individual and joint attempts to make it increasingly difficult for Israel to conduct this genocide. UN member states have previously voted overwhelmingly in support of peace and recognition of Palestine which has been met with a Security Council veto most consistently by the United States. It is clear what is needed is a united effort to do what the Security Council can not, which is to enact peace through resolution 377 (V) which would allow for member states to take action over the Security Council. 

On Monday, September 16 during NYC Peace Week, we will deliver this petition to UN Member States DEMANDING they take action now! Sign below and demand immediate peace in Gaza!

We, the undersigned, urge the United Nations to take real and effective actions to prevent Israel’s continued genocidal acts against the Palestinians of Gaza by passing the “Uniting for Peace” resolution. This resolution, also known as General Assembly Resolution 377(V), gives the United Nations General Assembly the power to take action if the Security Council fails to maintain international peace and security.

All countries that are a part of the UN are obligated, under the Geneva Convention, to use whatever influence they have to prevent and stop violations of international humanitarian law including the use of starvation as a weapon of war, collective punishment, and acts in violation of the Genocide Convention – all of which Israel has been credibly accused of. 

Routinely, the United States as a member of the Security Council vetoed important resolutions at the UN that would have either supported a ceasefire in Gaza or otherwise held Israel accountable for its war crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The United States should not be able to make life or death decisions – against the popular opinion of the entire world and the United Nations. The US and Israel have acted with impunity for eleven months, and the Uniting for Peace resolution would make it more possible for the UN to halt the ongoing genocide effectively. 

We are demanding member states to support a “Uniting for Peace” resolution to obtain a permanent ceasefire, and effective sanctions against Israel to end its decades of lawlessness. 

Sincerely,

SIGN HERE

Israel Will Collapse Within a Year if the War of Attrition Against Hamas and Hezbollah Continues

 

Photo: Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, this month.Credit: Itai Ron

By Yitzhak Brik

Haaretz (Israel's main liberal-centrist daily)

Aug 22, 2024 - Most of the pretentious declarations made by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant throughout the war in Gaza have proven to be groundless.

After the occupation of Gaza City, he said that Israel was in total control of the city and its tunnels, and within a short time, Hamas would surrender. After the occupation of Khan Yunis, he claimed that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was running in the tunnels by himself and had lost control of his men, and within a few days he would be caught.

With these pronouncements, Gallant, along with his colleagues IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been throwing dust in the eyes of the Israeli public.

Israel's defense minister isn't a hero. He's just telling the truth

As far as Netanyahu is concerned, Israeli hostages are anything but an asset

Netanyahu's war goal is not the hostages' return. It's the occupation of Gaza

Recently, it appears that Gallant has begun to sober up, when in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense committee he declared that the concept of total victory in Gaza "is nonsense."

And it seems that he has begun to realize that failing to reach a hostage deal with Hamas would lead to a regional war that would put Israel in serious danger.

This realization prompted him to call for a discussion, in the government or security cabinet, intending to warn everyone involved. The apparent goal of the discussion is to ensure that responsibility rests not only on him, but is shared by all the government ministers.

I assume that Defense Minister Gallant already understands that the war has lost its purpose. Israel is sinking deeper into the Gazan mud, losing more and more soldiers as they get killed or wounded, without any chance of achieving the war's main goal: bringing down Hamas.

The country really is galloping towards the edge of an abyss. If the war of attrition against Hamas and Hezbollah continues, Israel will collapse within no more than a year.

Terror attacks are intensifying in the West Bank and inside the country, the reservist army is voting with its feet following recurring mobilizations of combat soldiers, and the economy is crashing. Israel has also become a pariah state, prompting economic boycotts and an embargo on arms shipments.

We are also losing our social resilience, as the growing hatred between different parts of the nation threatens to ignite and bring to its destruction from within.

Sinwar and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah understand Israel's dire situation. What Israel could have achieved earlier with a hostage/cease-fire agreement has become impossible due to the new conditions that Netanyahu introduced into the proposed deal. Those involved in the negotiations in Doha claim that they have no maneuvering space to negotiate because their hands are tied.

In light of the new situation, a threat by Iran and Hezbollah to attack Israel in response to the killing of the two senior officials is materializing in the region. The use of assassinations is a step threatening to ignite the entire Middle East, decided upon by the three pyromaniacs, Netanyahu, Gallant and Chief of Staff Halevi, without thinking about the significance of their irresponsible decisions.

Sinwar has begun to understand that the war of attrition is working to his benefit, not to mention a multi-arena regional war. That's why he now prefers a continuation of the fighting to a deal, and is toughening his positions. If Netanyahu hadn't already put spokes in the negotiation team's wheels throughout the war, Israel could already have achieved a hostage deal before Sinwar toughened his stance.

Netanyahu's recent announcement to the families of hostages about the need to preserve "security assets" in Gaza – a blatant lie – has effectively torpedoed the deal, leading to a catastrophe not only for the hostages and their families but also for the entire country.

All of the paths chosen by Israel's political and military leadership are leading the country down a slippery slope. One dictator controls the fate of the country, and a flock of sheep follows him blindly. Netanyahu decided to "die with the Philistines" – in this case, the citizens of Israel – only to retain his power.

He has lost his humanity, basic morality, norms, values, and responsibility for Israel's security. Only replacing him and his cronies as soon as possible can save the country. Israel has entered an existential tailspin and could soon reach a point of no return.

After 2,000 years of exile, we returned and established a glorious country. We paid a high price in tens of thousands of dead and wounded. And now the country is disintegrating in our hands through the fault of Netanyahu, Gallant, Halevi, and their pawns. It's still possible to do something before it's too late.

Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Brik served in the Armored Corps as a brigade, division and troops commander, and was the commander of the IDF military colleges. For 10 years he was the Israel Defense Forces ombudsman.