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| Funeral in Lebanon for Hezbollah terrorists killed yesterday (Fox) |
Without knowing the details, I admit it worried me that this event might trigger a broader conflict with a much deadlier enemy. Which would mean even more Jewish blood being spilled in what seems like an endless war.
I also considered the possibility that this might bring Iran into the conflict. That would seem to make it difficult if not impossible for Israel to go it alone. With the US ironclad assurances that it help defend Israel if they needed it. it is not all that far fetched that the US would have boots on the ground there too if that happened. If American blood is spilled in yet another foreign war, I fear that public support for Israel might take a serious hit. I can see it all now. Scenes of massive student protests on college campuses all across America not seen since the height of the Viet Nam war – kept popping up in my head.
Admittedly, that is a worst case scenario. But it is certainly not an impossible one.
As the day wore on and I was able to process what actually happened, how Israelis are reacting to it; how American experts on clandestine warfare are treating it; and even how Hezbollah is talking about it, my mind was put somewhat at ease.
What happened here is by all accounts one of the most unique attacks against enemy combatants within their own country in the history of modern warfare. No IDF forces were there. Thousands of pagers carried only by Hezbollah terrorists were detonated at the same time. They were designed to kill or seriously wound the carrier while doing little to no damage to people standing next to them.
A video recording of one of those detonations demonstrating exactly that has been broadcast all over the mainstream media. It took place in what looks like a grocery store. The explosion hit the wearer hard. But those that were near him remained untouched and walked away.
There was, however, this as noted in The Herald:
The exploding pager attack in Lebanon and Syria showed a “wanton disregard” for the lives of civilians, Irish deputy premier Micheal Martin has said.
Yep. The good old ‘mothers milk of antisemitism’ is alive and well - still coursing through the veins of at least one European government official. And probably a lot more.
That tens of thousands of rockets have been fired by Hezbollah indiscriminately into Israel since October 7th is OK. That hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been displaced from their homes in Northern Israel is OK too. But fighting terrorism in an ingenious way that targeted only Hezbollah terrorists determined to destroy you – with almost no damage to people standing near them - that is inhumane. Got it.
Hezbollah’s health ministry has thus far claimed 12 casualties and thousands of injuries. They have promised to retaliate in a ‘just’ way. If I had to interpret that, I think they want to assure Israel and the world that they are not interested in a full blown war right now.
A former Mossad official was interviewed on one of the broadcast news networks yesterday and was asked what she thought Israel accomplished with this attack. She responded by saying that their entre communications network has been disrupted and that perhaps more importantly they now know they can be attacked inside their own country without a single IDF soldier setting foot in it.
Asked if she though Hezbollah would retaliate, she replied that she absolutely expected them to. And that Israel has surely prepared for that.
How have Israelis reacted to this? Rabbi Natan Slifkin reported the following:
This is simply an extraordinary event. Never in the history of the world have so many terrorists embedded among civilians been so successfully attacked in such a targeted way with so little collateral damage.
With morale in Israel having previously been at almost an all-time low, the mood here now is jubilant. We were inside Haniyeh’s bedroom, and now we’re inside Hezbollah’s pants. The memes are hilarious. People are laughing so much, their sides are splitting. As someone pointed out regarding Hezbollah, so are theirs.
The reaction by American military experts interviewed by the media has thus far been pretty positive. They seemed to be amazed - and admired the genius of Israel’s ability to pull something like this off. Admitting that they had no clue how Israel did it.
I don’t recall this kind of positive reaction since the six day war.
I don’t know what will happen now - going forward. But it sure is nice to see some good news coming out of Israel in a year that has had very little of it.
Postscript - As I write these words, news of yet more device explosions have taken place among Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. The following is from NBC:
More device explosions were reported across Lebanon on Wednesday, a day after pagers belonging to Hezbollah members detonated across the country, killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly 3,000, state media reported.
According to Lebanon's National News Agency, or NNA, "a number" of wounded people had been taken to hospitals in the southern suburbs of Beirut after their wireless pagers exploded.
At least three people were killed in device explosions Wednesday, NNA reported. Lebanon’s health ministry said more than 100 wounded by exploding electronic devices across the country, according to The Associated Press.
Al-Manar, a Hezbollah-affiliated news agency, reported that wireless devices exploded in people’s hands across the country.
The Associated Press reported that its own journalists were in Beirut at a funeral for four people killed by exploding pagers the day before when they heard "multiple explosions at the site."