Absolutely brilliant move by Mossad. Bravo! But Eli cannot bring himself to talk about the elephant in the room: WHY does Israel’s strategic situation never seem to improve despite its tactical successes? It’s because Israelis and the Jewish diaspora cannot bring themselves to address the real problem, that the ultra orthodox (especially the messianic version on the West Bank) are a fatal impediment to peace and progress. They will resist, probably violently, any attempts to set up a state of Palestine or to remove their illegal settlements. And until the Palestinians have a state of their own, they can have no hope, and have no incentive to turn away from Hamas and the other extremists. But no one wants to talk about this; it’s all too hard.
There’s actually plenty of people who talk about this very thing. There’s people who have very, very specific plans regarding the settlements (including but not all all limited to the Trump admin), and plenty of people who are against them all together. However, even if Israel uprooted every settlement, like they did in Gaza - even dug up the dead - no Palestinian governing body (PA, any other leader, or their 50+ terrorist organizations) what a state. They want to destroy Israel more than they want a state. They won’t even except a state handed to them under any terms of except “from the water to the water Palestine is Arab.”
TLDR: settlers, however bad, are not the route of the problem. Islamism stops at nothing.
I have long wondered if advanced US weapons sold to foriegn countries come with secret 'kill switches' embedded deeply in the coding or firmware if the weapons were to be used against the US or Israel.
For example, some US client trys to attack Israel with US made aircraft and out goes a coded message. Suddenly, it is all the Muslim pilot can do to keep the plane at half speed in the air while his weapons refuse to arm. Attack aborted!
The story of the exploding pagers is both good and amusing news. One can hope some of the worst terrorists kept the things tucked in the front of their pants. However, as the author says, it is only a tactical victory. Unless things in Iran change drastically, sometime, maybe pretty soon, someone will have to inflict a strategic defeat on Iran by destroying its capability to build an atomic bomb. Whether we or the Israelis do it, it seems like a good idea to finish Hamas and Hezbollah off first, limiting the Iranians ability to strike back.
I have nothing but the utmost respect and awe for Israel’s cunning and audacity. If you don’t see this as a victory, you sorely lack both comprehension and a sense of humor.
Please! The cyber operation in some way encouraged the Iranians to speed up their development of nuclear weapons? What utter silliness. The progress which Iran was able to make was primarily as a result of the policies of the Obama and Biden administrations who thought that we could purchase peace from ideologues. (Those transfers were well in excess of $150 billion). The logic of the pager attack was simple - just two goals. First, take out some number of Hezbollah supporters. And depending on who one listens to that was in excess of 8 and fewer than 2700 “freedom” fighters. Second, it was designed to introduce uncertainty into the terrorist networks. They quit using cellphones because as the US and Israel have demonstrated their signals can be tracked - so they went to supposedly safer pagers. I’ll bet a lot of the techies on the side of Hezbollah are wondering what the next innovation they will need to use to communicate (smoke signals?). From my view whoever did this accomplished both objectives.
The United States should not give one more dollar of military assistance to Lebanon, nor should any Western country, if the Lebanese military does not seize this moment to destroy the Hezbollah jihadis in their midst. It's not hard to find them now.
If you have not listened to any of the podcasts by Dan senor, give the most recent one with nadav eyal. They talk about this. I would also suggest any of the past ones.
The name of the podcast is ‘call me back’. The title of this episode is ‘BEEP’. I did not get it at first but it made me smile when I started to listen.
I'm usually impressed by how on-point Free Press articles are. This is not one of those times. Tactical successes DO indeed matter in the grand scheme of strategy. A few glaring incorrect statements in this article. 1. Stuxnet set the Iranian nuclear program back several years, not a few months. 2. Israel is not depending on tactical shadow work. They are highly engaged in hard power warfare. 3. This current so-called tactics of blowing up pagers and walkie talkies is brilliant strategy that will most certainly force Hezbollah to alter their comms. That is excellent strategic thi king.
No disrespect meant FP, but this is not your best piece of journalism.
Good article but pretty obvious. What is your suggestion to change it? Full out war? Peace is out of the question. I think Israel is doing the best it can under a difficult situation
pretty much, and if war is coming aren't these significant attacks weaken herbs overall position? I mean seriously, didn't;t they hurt 3-5 percent of their organization at loss cost in under a hour.
Rather that quibble about whether this is a "tactical", "operational" or "strategic" victory, it's more useful to note that 2800+ Hezbollah operatives senior enough to get one of these pagers have been injured, with over 500 of them losing their eyesight.
Add to this that the following day Hezbollah's two-way radios starting exploding, injuring over 200 so far.
It adds up to a sudden, massive loss in Hezbollah's senior ranks, an equally sudden loss of wireless communications (cell, radio, pager) and the shock of having been penetrated by Israeli intelligence to such a degree.
Ideal conditions for Israel to launch an invasion of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah will fight with a massive deficit in commanders and WW1-era communications while Israel has its normal, full 21st century military to rely on.
One thing I can't help noticing about Muslim men - in general, not just 'Islamists' - is that they hate losing face, are super-sensitive to what they view as being humiliated or 'dishonoured'.
Yes, so far it’s been Pager Tuesday, Walkie Talkie Wednesday. What will Thursday bring? Is Israel playing Double Dutch, Connect Four or Bingo? Or perhaps this is the start of Blackout?
This needs to end now. The Israelis need to attack Iran and their proxies throughout the Middle East and Africa. I don't think Egypt will join the battle. Bring Iran to its knees and foster rebellion within their country.
Airline Unions put tons of political pressure on their members. It’s not JUST about safety, which is of #1 importance, but there is another big story here….hmmmm
Absolutely brilliant move by Mossad. Bravo! But Eli cannot bring himself to talk about the elephant in the room: WHY does Israel’s strategic situation never seem to improve despite its tactical successes? It’s because Israelis and the Jewish diaspora cannot bring themselves to address the real problem, that the ultra orthodox (especially the messianic version on the West Bank) are a fatal impediment to peace and progress. They will resist, probably violently, any attempts to set up a state of Palestine or to remove their illegal settlements. And until the Palestinians have a state of their own, they can have no hope, and have no incentive to turn away from Hamas and the other extremists. But no one wants to talk about this; it’s all too hard.
There’s actually plenty of people who talk about this very thing. There’s people who have very, very specific plans regarding the settlements (including but not all all limited to the Trump admin), and plenty of people who are against them all together. However, even if Israel uprooted every settlement, like they did in Gaza - even dug up the dead - no Palestinian governing body (PA, any other leader, or their 50+ terrorist organizations) what a state. They want to destroy Israel more than they want a state. They won’t even except a state handed to them under any terms of except “from the water to the water Palestine is Arab.”
TLDR: settlers, however bad, are not the route of the problem. Islamism stops at nothing.
I have long wondered if advanced US weapons sold to foriegn countries come with secret 'kill switches' embedded deeply in the coding or firmware if the weapons were to be used against the US or Israel.
For example, some US client trys to attack Israel with US made aircraft and out goes a coded message. Suddenly, it is all the Muslim pilot can do to keep the plane at half speed in the air while his weapons refuse to arm. Attack aborted!
The story of the exploding pagers is both good and amusing news. One can hope some of the worst terrorists kept the things tucked in the front of their pants. However, as the author says, it is only a tactical victory. Unless things in Iran change drastically, sometime, maybe pretty soon, someone will have to inflict a strategic defeat on Iran by destroying its capability to build an atomic bomb. Whether we or the Israelis do it, it seems like a good idea to finish Hamas and Hezbollah off first, limiting the Iranians ability to strike back.
I have nothing but the utmost respect and awe for Israel’s cunning and audacity. If you don’t see this as a victory, you sorely lack both comprehension and a sense of humor.
Please! The cyber operation in some way encouraged the Iranians to speed up their development of nuclear weapons? What utter silliness. The progress which Iran was able to make was primarily as a result of the policies of the Obama and Biden administrations who thought that we could purchase peace from ideologues. (Those transfers were well in excess of $150 billion). The logic of the pager attack was simple - just two goals. First, take out some number of Hezbollah supporters. And depending on who one listens to that was in excess of 8 and fewer than 2700 “freedom” fighters. Second, it was designed to introduce uncertainty into the terrorist networks. They quit using cellphones because as the US and Israel have demonstrated their signals can be tracked - so they went to supposedly safer pagers. I’ll bet a lot of the techies on the side of Hezbollah are wondering what the next innovation they will need to use to communicate (smoke signals?). From my view whoever did this accomplished both objectives.
Boy, the pro Israel communitariat really has the bit between its teeth on this.
You got that right: a covert operation from the liver to the knee. Does Hezbollah still have the balls?
The antisemitic commentariat is definitely throwing fits at one of the most effective clandestine operations in many decades.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_Nobel_laureates
'...a covert operation from the liver to the knee.'
Absolutely brilliant mate
The United States should not give one more dollar of military assistance to Lebanon, nor should any Western country, if the Lebanese military does not seize this moment to destroy the Hezbollah jihadis in their midst. It's not hard to find them now.
The Lebanese military is not what you think it is. It can barely defend its own enclaves.
If you have not listened to any of the podcasts by Dan senor, give the most recent one with nadav eyal. They talk about this. I would also suggest any of the past ones.
The name of the podcast is ‘call me back’. The title of this episode is ‘BEEP’. I did not get it at first but it made me smile when I started to listen.
I'm usually impressed by how on-point Free Press articles are. This is not one of those times. Tactical successes DO indeed matter in the grand scheme of strategy. A few glaring incorrect statements in this article. 1. Stuxnet set the Iranian nuclear program back several years, not a few months. 2. Israel is not depending on tactical shadow work. They are highly engaged in hard power warfare. 3. This current so-called tactics of blowing up pagers and walkie talkies is brilliant strategy that will most certainly force Hezbollah to alter their comms. That is excellent strategic thi king.
No disrespect meant FP, but this is not your best piece of journalism.
This is the time for Israel to take preemptive military action in Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah as a threat to the north in Israel.
They have lost 1000s of terrorists ready for battle and they are all SCARED SH*TLESS TO ANSWER THEIR PHONES
Paper and messengers.
Conclusion: "Israel cannot defeat its enemies by waging war only in the shadows. " Yah don't say. Whoever suggested it could? Or was thinking such?
Good article but pretty obvious. What is your suggestion to change it? Full out war? Peace is out of the question. I think Israel is doing the best it can under a difficult situation
pretty much, and if war is coming aren't these significant attacks weaken herbs overall position? I mean seriously, didn't;t they hurt 3-5 percent of their organization at loss cost in under a hour.
I love visualizing hundreds of Islamic eunuchs. American Catholic.
Rather that quibble about whether this is a "tactical", "operational" or "strategic" victory, it's more useful to note that 2800+ Hezbollah operatives senior enough to get one of these pagers have been injured, with over 500 of them losing their eyesight.
Add to this that the following day Hezbollah's two-way radios starting exploding, injuring over 200 so far.
It adds up to a sudden, massive loss in Hezbollah's senior ranks, an equally sudden loss of wireless communications (cell, radio, pager) and the shock of having been penetrated by Israeli intelligence to such a degree.
Ideal conditions for Israel to launch an invasion of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah will fight with a massive deficit in commanders and WW1-era communications while Israel has its normal, full 21st century military to rely on.
Plus, they look like complete idiots.
One thing I can't help noticing about Muslim men - in general, not just 'Islamists' - is that they hate losing face, are super-sensitive to what they view as being humiliated or 'dishonoured'.
Which makes this all the more satisfying.
Yes, so far it’s been Pager Tuesday, Walkie Talkie Wednesday. What will Thursday bring? Is Israel playing Double Dutch, Connect Four or Bingo? Or perhaps this is the start of Blackout?
This needs to end now. The Israelis need to attack Iran and their proxies throughout the Middle East and Africa. I don't think Egypt will join the battle. Bring Iran to its knees and foster rebellion within their country.
The Egyptian military is s joke. The only victory it ever had was assassinating Sadat.
If only the current feckless American administration would support this instead of trying to appease Iran at all costs.
Eli
Airline Unions put tons of political pressure on their members. It’s not JUST about safety, which is of #1 importance, but there is another big story here….hmmmm