Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The Israeli president has categorically denied any involvement of the Israeli government in the widespread pager attacks that resulted in numerous casualties in Lebanon. President Isaac Herzog stated in an interview with Sky News that Iran and the Hezbollah terrorist group’s claims of Israeli involvement in the attacks carried out through exploding pagers and walkie-talkies are unfounded.
Herzog firmly stated, “First of all, I reject out of hand any connection to this or that source of operation,” when asked about Israel’s involvement.
Two waves of explosions shook Lebanon last week, targeting members of Hezbollah, resulting in significant casualties. The first attack, which mainly affected pagers, led to 12 fatalities and thousands of injuries. The second attack resulted in 25 deaths and 600 injuries.
During the interview, Herzog highlighted Hezbollah’s actions earlier in the summer, particularly a rocket attack on a civilian area in the Golan Heights that claimed the lives of 12 children. This incident prompted retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
He emphasized, “All I would say is that just at the opening of the Olympic Games 12 Israeli children of the Druze religion were murdered by a terrible missile attack, a rocket attack by Hezbollah in Majdal Shams where they were playing football. There are terrible tragedies in this war and we never want to get there, but we have the inherent right to defend ourselves and the fact is that houses have been demolished, Israelis were killed, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Jews all in the northern part of Israel where they live peacefully.”
He also mentioned that people had been displaced from their homes for a year due to Hezbollah’s actions.
In a televised address, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, declared that both Lebanon and Syria had suffered a “severe blow” from the pager explosions, accusing Israel of crossing a “red line” and declaring it a “declaration of war.” Nasrallah vowed to continue attacks along the border with Israel as long as the conflict in Gaza persists.
Iran, a long-time supporter of Hezbollah, claimed that one of its diplomats was killed in the explosions. Statements from Iranian state-run media and Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, indicated that the group was entering a “new phase” and called for an “open-ended battle” with Israel.
A Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo, confirmed that the AR-924 pager model was authorized for use, but a Budapest-based company, BAC Consulting KFT, manufactured and distributed the pagers. Taiwanese and Hungarian authorities clarified that there were no direct exports to Lebanon, with Hungary noting that BAC acted as an intermediary.
Speculation surrounding the origin of the exploded devices has surfaced. A sales executive from the U.S. subsidiary of Japanese walkie-talkie maker Icom stated that the radio devices in Lebanon were knock-off products and not manufactured by Icom.
“I can guarantee you they were not our products,” said Ray Novak, a senior sales manager at Icom, during an interview at a trade show in Providence, Rhode Island.
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