News/Commentary

Israel’s pager explosives called ‘ingenious,’ but how long until foes start blowing up our iPhones?

September 18, 2024 | | Print Article

A Daily Mail writer is facing heat after writing a column warning that Israel’s alleged attack this week on Hezbollah may backfire.

On Tuesday hundreds of pagers used by members of Hezbollah exploded simultaneously, killing multiple terrorists and wounding thousands.

It’s strongly believed the attack on Hezbollah was committed by Israel.

“That assessment was confirmed by U.S. and other officials who said Israel had planted explosives in at least hundreds of pagers,” according to the New York Times.

But according to Mark Almond, a writer for the Daily Mail, this attack may “backfire” just like Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor did.

“When the Japanese Navy Air Service bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, their goal was to knock out America’s air power in the Pacific and prevent Uncle Sam from joining the Second World War,” Almond writes. “They achieved precisely the opposite. Roused to indignant fury, the American public were instantly committed to the Allied cause – and Japan found itself facing a new and mighty enemy.”

“In yesterday’s devastating attack on thousands of pagers operated by Hezbollah terrorists across Lebanon, I fear we have witnessed the Pearl Harbor of the 21st century,” he continues.

For Israel, he believes the pager attack means much higher chances of “another all-out Israel-Lebanon War – with grim consequences for world peace.” It also means a tougher time for Israel making friends in the region.

“Hezbollah’s allies, Iran and Syria, will inevitably be worrying that Israeli intelligence could do the same to them,” Almond writes. “But even those Arab countries with diplomatic relations with Israel, such as Egypt and Jordan, must now be asking themselves how safe they really are – and whether or not their communication networks are secure. This will weaken Israel’s ability to build friendships in the region.”

For the United States and other Western democracies, he believes this new form of warfare — exploding pagers — could one day soon enough be used against the United States.

“History teaches us that no new military technique remains a monopoly of its inventor for long,” he notes. “How long before Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping works out how to make millions of iPhones around the world burst into flames in the pockets of their foes?”

A few others have also expressed similar concerns:

But critics have been pushing back on Almond and others like Snowden.

“Is this where we are supposed to feel sorry for the Hezbolla fighters?” one critic wrote in the Daily Mail’s comments section. “The ‘Don’t be a terrorist’ memos didn’t work, so here we are. Frankly, it was genius.”

Another critic went after the fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin might boobytrap iPhones.

“Please be reassured there is no way Putin could hack into an iPhone to get it to remotely trigger an explosion,” the critic wrote. “The difference in the technology of a pager to an iPhone is streets apart. Add to that they would have to have physical access to the phones to plant the explosives.”

A third critic went after Almond for criticizing Israel instead of the actual bad guys, i.e., the Hezbollah terrorists.

“Instead of criticizing Israel, you should look at what started this,” the critic wrote.

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles