Sep 18, 2024
More Pager Explosions Signal MAJOR Escalation By Israel
Thousands are injured and over 20 people have been killed after more pagers exploded in Hezbollah during an attack allegedly by Israel on its second day.
- 16 minutes
Several people have been killed
and many more injured in fresh explosions
of communication devices.
This time, walkie talkies used
by the Hezbollah militant group exploded,
including near a funeral for some
of the 12 people who were killed Tuesday
[00:00:16]
when thousands of pagers exploded.
The Iran backed militant group
had been using the devices
in hopes of avoiding Israeli surveillance
of their mobile phones.
Security sources claim Israel is
responsible for the sophisticated attacks
that appeared
to have been months in the making.
[00:00:35]
Well, you heard that right.
There has now been a new round of
explosions that has killed at least
20 people and injured at least 450.
Just one day after thousands were injured
by pager's exploding across Lebanon.
[00:00:52]
Now Israel has declined to say
whether it was responsible.
However, considering the fact
that even American officials acknowledged
that Israel is responsible
for this and yesterday's attacks.
It seems likely that Israel
is actually behind this.
[00:01:08]
And so we're going
to dive into that in just a moment.
But Hezbollah is promising
to take revenge.
And this is an escalation.
This is definitely the antithesis
of moving toward a ceasefire
agreement with Hamas
as it pertains to the ongoing war in Gaza.
[00:01:26]
This is a bit of a disaster,
because it could go in a direction
that leads to a broader regional war that
the United States would be dragged into.
Now, before we get to some other
disastrous developments, here's
what we do know about today's attack.
Rather than pagers,
as you heard in the video earlier,
[00:01:43]
walkie talkies were detonated.
Today, the walkie talkies are less widely
used than the pagers that blew up on
Tuesday, as they had only been distributed
among people organizing crowds such as
funerals and marches, the source said.
[00:02:00]
Now, Lebanese media said that some of the
devices were branded as Icom, a company
that actually sells radio communications,
including at least one Icom V 82, which is
a hand-held transmission transceiver.
[00:02:17]
That is pictured right here.
So that's what it looks like.
Lebanon's Red cross said
that it had deployed 30 ambulances
across the country in response
to these walkie talkies exploding.
Meanwhile, the country's civil defense
force said teams were working to put
[00:02:36]
out fires inside homes, cars and shops
that were ignited by the blast.
So, as you can imagine,
given the various areas
in which these walkie talkies exploded,
much like what happened with the pagers,
it wasn't just Hezbollah militants
[00:02:52]
who were hurt by this or killed by this.
Some of the fatalities
included literal children, but Israel
doesn't really care too much about that.
So I'm just letting you guys know.
I'm letting the people know
that it wasn't just Hezbollah militants
that were impacted by these explosions.
[00:03:09]
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Now, the Associated Press reported
that its own journalists were actually
[00:03:26]
in Beirut at a funeral for four people
killed yesterday by exploding pagers,
including a child, including a child,
when they heard
multiple explosions at the site.
So an Associated Press photographer
in the city of Sidon also saw a car
[00:03:46]
and a mobile phone shop damaged
after devices exploded inside of them.
And a girl was hurt in the south
when a solar energy system blew up,
according to the state news agency.
And as mentioned, this actually comes
after yesterday's attack,
[00:04:02]
which now has a higher death toll
from when we reported it yesterday.
The current death toll
from yesterday's attack is now 12 people
as opposed to nine people.
The explosions were hypothetically meant
to target Hezbollah members.
[00:04:18]
But again, just want to reiterate,
it wasn't just Hezbollah members who were,
suffering the consequences of this attack.
Hundreds of blasts went off
wherever the holder of the pager
happened to be in homes, cars,
at grocery stores and in cafes,
[00:04:34]
often with family or bystanders nearby.
Many of the casualties were not Hezbollah
fighters, but members of the group's
extensive civilian operations,
mainly serving Lebanon's Shiite community.
At least two health workers
were among the victims.
[00:04:53]
So again,
this is definitely an escalation.
This is essentially Netanyahu's way
of letting the United States know
that they are not reining him in.
He is not listening to them.
He is uninterested in a cease fire
agreement and is hell bent on continuing
[00:05:10]
these types of provocative
attacks in sovereign countries
in order to ensure that there will be
a broader war in the Middle East,
and he benefits from that.
In his mind, he would benefit from that
because he would no longer have
to worry about having to step aside.
[00:05:27]
The people of Israel do not favor him.
They do not like him.
There have been mass protests against him.
He doesn't want to face prosecution
for the corruption charges
that he's dealing with.
And that's exactly
what he'd have to deal with.
If the war ends and he's no longer
prime minister, he wants to stay in power,
[00:05:46]
and he's going to do whatever it takes
to stay in power.
And the most infuriating part
about all of this
is the current Democratic administration
is enabling him to do what he's doing.
There is no talk about using the weapons
that we send to Israel,
[00:06:03]
the weapons we fund for Israel
as leverage to rein Netanyahu in.
So Netanyahu is going to keep doing
what he's doing.
So there's more.
Let's get to, you know, the timing here,
because we're also learning
the reason for Israel's timing.
Apparently, Israel launched
the Tuesday pager attack after it believed
[00:06:24]
the capability had been discovered by
Hezbollah, according to an Israeli source
familiar with national security.
The decision was made to explode them
before word spread and everyone got
rid of their pagers, the source said.
It was a use it or lose it moment,
the source added.
[00:06:42]
You know, super flippant,
nonchalant attitude toward the possibility
of civilian casualties.
But are you really surprised?
I mean, I'm certainly not surprised
by any of this.
So, after yesterday's attack,
even a former Mossad member agreed
[00:07:00]
that this was a clear escalation
of war on Israel's part.
Let's take a look.
Sima Shine is ex head
of research at Mossad,
- Israel's foreign intelligence agency.
- It's a warning.
It could be also, of course, if Israel
did it, it has to take into account
[00:07:17]
that Hezbollah will retaliate.
And we are escalating to a kind of a war.
Short, long.
I don't know, but a war.
Well, Hezbollah is promising to retaliate.
I mean, look, every response so far,
especially from Iran, has been pretty
[00:07:37]
measured after, you know, Israel conducts,
military operations in Iran,
another sovereign country.
I mean, Iran, they have the military
capacity to cause real harm to Israel,
but they have decided to be measured
because it's very clear
that they do not want a broader war.
[00:07:54]
They don't want a regional war.
Netanyahu really has two options here.
Option number one would be
to agree to a cease fire deal.
Hezbollah stops attacking Israel.
The reason why Hezbollah
is attacking Israel is
because of what Israel is doing in Gaza.
[00:08:10]
But Netanyahu doesn't want
a cease fire deal.
He doesn't care for a cease fire deal.
He has served as an obstacle
to a cease fire deal, even when Hamas gave
up the condition of a permanent cease fire
and said, okay, fine,
we'll agree to a temporary cease fire.
Netanyahu moved the goalposts and said,
now I don't agree to the cease fire.
[00:08:30]
I want to continue controlling
the Philadelphia corridor.
At that point, Hamas was out.
So Netanyahu doesn't want a cease fire.
That's clear.
The other option is what he's doing
right now, which is intentionally pushing
[00:08:46]
for a broader war.
So let's get to what Hezbollah
is saying they're going to do.
In response to the recent attacks,
Hezbollah said Wednesday that it would
continue its military operations
against Israel to support Gaza after the
unprecedented attack
on the grounds communications network
[00:09:04]
caused thousands of electric pagers
to explode across the country.
Hezbollah's attacks against Israel,
which started in October
in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza,
were separate from the difficult reckoning
that the criminal enemy must await
[00:09:21]
for its massacre on Tuesday.
Hezbollah said in a statement today,
Wednesday, this is another reckoning
that will come, it added.
Also, Israeli commanders said
that troops near the Lebanese border were
[00:09:36]
at peak readiness, so that's reassuring.
Speaking to Israeli troops,
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
said the following quote we are
at the start of a new phase in the war.
It requires courage,
determination and perseverance.
[00:09:53]
Now, what it requires is US weapons.
And unfortunately, we have two
separate dominant political parties that
are all too willing to enable all of this.
But I'll continue.
He also made no mention of the explosions
of electric devices, but praised the work
[00:10:13]
of Israel's army and security agencies,
saying the results are very impressive.
Now, how has the United States
responded to this?
Pathetically, as you might expect,
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
says that the U.S.
Knew nothing about these attacks
beforehand and expressed frustration
[00:10:31]
over the fact that Israel has done this.
He hates the fact
that things are being escalated.
How could Israel do this?
How could Israel escalate things?
We really don't want
a broader regional war, really, though,
like, are people really going to believe
that when it comes to Anthony Blinken,
[00:10:48]
like the guy who immediately traveled to
the UK after Israeli snipers killed a U.S.
Citizen in the West Bank
and demanded that they lift any weapons,
pauses for Israel like he wants
to ensure Israel gets more weapons.
[00:11:04]
Okay, after they killed
an American citizen in the West Bank.
But no, no, no, he is very upset.
He is very, very upset.
Yesterday, after the first wave of major
attacks, he spoke to reporters in Cairo,
where he's participating
in ceasefire negotiations.
[00:11:21]
Let's watch.
Broadly speaking, we've been very clear,
and we remain very clear about
the importance of all parties avoiding any
steps that could further escalate
the conflict that we're trying to resolve
[00:11:36]
in Gaza, to see it spread to other fronts.
It's clearly not in the interest
of anyone involved to see that happen.
And that's why, again, it's imperative
that all parties refrain from any actions
that could escalate the conflict.
We're focused on getting
this cease fire over the finish line.
[00:11:54]
Again, it's imperative that everyone avoid
taking steps that could further escalate
or spread the conflict.
Yeah, none of that is true.
I just want to be clear about that.
Like, I'm not even entertaining
the possibility that Anthony Blinken
[00:12:10]
is working tirelessly
to secure a cease fire agreement.
Okay.
Obviously, what the US has been doing,
has it been working?
And it's because there are no
real consequences for Israel's actions.
So if the US is going to continue
supplying the weapons, if the US is going
[00:12:28]
to bully other foreign countries,
other sovereign countries to keep
providing additional weapons to Israel,
Israel is going to do
what Israel wants to do.
I mean, why would they act differently?
It makes no sense at all.
He also said that time and time again,
when the US and other international
[00:12:46]
mediators believe themselves
to be making progress in a cease fire.
Deal.
Deal for Israel's and Hamas's war in Gaza.
We've seen an event that makes
the progress more difficult.
Might derail it.
Yeah. So what are you gonna do about it?
[00:13:02]
Are you going to do the same thing
you've been doing?
And if the answer is yes,
you don't actually want a ceasefire deal.
You want to encourage the escalation
that will lead to a broader war
in the Middle East, which, by the way,
I'm sure the military contractors
and weapons manufacturers are real excited
[00:13:22]
about lots of profits to be made right
on the backs of us taxpayers, of course.
And don't worry.
Luckily, it seems like Israeli officials
are taking this whole situation
that could lead
to a massive regional war real seriously.
[00:13:40]
So what happened?
Officially, we do not know.
As you said, Hezbollah blamed Israel.
I asked an Israeli official about that.
The only response I got was an
emoji of a shrugged shoulders.
So that's what Israel is saying? Nothing.
That is what our government
is enabling everyone.
[00:13:57]
Okay.
I mean, escalation of a broader war,
which could lead to the U.S.
Going to war with Iran, by the way, which
would be a complete and utter disaster.
You would need boots on the ground
if that happens.
We are squandering precious American
resources in the form of U.S.
[00:14:17]
Taxpayer money
on a country that is acting belligerently
and killing civilians with impunity.
And by the way, at the end,
do you think this makes Israel safer?
Israel is going to be right in the middle
of this broader regional war.
[00:14:35]
I mean, will the Iron Dome withstand
the attacks that Israeli civilians
might have to be concerned about?
Now, Netanyahu
and the current Israeli government
doesn't care about Israeli civilians.
They certainly don't care
about Palestinian civilians
[00:14:51]
or Lebanese civilians.
All that government cares about right now,
especially the head of that government,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
is power and behaving the way
that they've been behaving.
They're going to keep doing it.
[00:15:06]
And it is infuriating that it doesn't
even matter if you have a Democrat
in the executive branch
or a Republican in the executive branch,
because of the way our politics work,
because of the fact that we have bribery
baked into our political system
[00:15:22]
where, you know,
interest groups
representing foreign countries can
literally legally bribe our politicians
to do what we're seeing right now.
That is that is why we have no choice,
Democrat or Republican.
We're going to have the same outcome
no matter what.
And that makes people feel
incredibly powerless.
[00:15:39]
By the way, you think Israel doesn't know
the Israeli government doesn't know that.
That's how our political system works.
The reason why they're behaving
the way they're behaving is
because they know they can with impunity.
And that is going to be the case until we
actually do something about the root of
[00:15:55]
the problem, which is money in politics,
which is the impact of lobbying groups
like AIPAC, for instance.
So I feel terrified for the men and women
in our armed forces, because if I were
to make a prediction right now,
[00:16:12]
I would predict that there is
a high likelihood that some of them
will be shipped abroad to fight a war
that they shouldn't be fighting,
all because Netanyahu would
rather escalate this rather than find
diplomatic solutions to, you know, bring
the temperature down and save human lives.
[00:16:29]
That's what we're dealing with.
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