Before thousands of pagers blew up in Lebanon on Tuesday, Israel informed the US that it was preparing an operation in the country but didn’t say what it was, CNN reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The sources said that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conveyed the message to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin early Tuesday, but due to the lack of detail, the US was left in the dark about what was about to transpire.
Austin and Gallant spoke again later that day after the pagers exploded, but it’s unclear what was said in that conversation.
The White House has insisted it was unaware of the Israeli plan to blow up pagers, which was followed by the detonation of walkie-talkies the following day. The Biden administration has barely commented on the Israeli terrorist attack, which killed at least two children, saying that it still needs to “gather information.”
But US officials were quick to share the details of the plot with The New York Times on the same day the pagers were detonated. US officials speaking to the paper were the first to confirm that Israel intercepted the pager shipment to Lebanon and packed the devices with explosives and a detonator switch.
There’s no indication that the attack will impact US military support for Israel, even though the US was reportedly warning Israel against escalating in Lebanon a day before the pagers were detonated.
The US has vowed to defend Israel if the situation in the Middle East turns into a full-blown regional war. In April, the US directly intervened to intercept Iranian missiles and drones that were fired at Israel in response to the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
Who buys this nonsense?
You mean Israel could say we have big plans and then nuke Lebanon? But the US doesn’t ask? They knew exactly what would transpire, and I bet they knew about the bomb rigging 5 months ago.
All my neighbors.
It’s inconceivable the U.S. didn’t know. It deemed Hezbollah a terrorist organization 20+ years ago and surely has developed a network of spies there. That Hezbollah ordered pagers, the order crossing at least three borders, and being delayed was something it surely followed (if not American intelligence is completely inept).
We'll have to wait on Seymour Hersch for the real dope, but it will likely go something like this:
this tactical scheme was dreamed up by the CIA/USM almost 2 or 3 yrs ago for use against Russia in Ukraine. The purchase was made and the devices armed and on the shelf ready to go. In the meantime Gaza erupted and gradually wore down the IDF to where it needed a silver bullet to throw Hezbollah off ballance. And, of course, Zelensky lost out to the ZioNazis.
The big selling point of these pagers was “ultrasonic welding”. The advantage being it seals out dust and liquids. Unless this technology was licensed and shared with third parties, supposedly interception, or moderation of the pagers would be easy to spot after production, which bloggers in Taiwan believe points to this boobytrap being constructed in Taiwan.
Commenter lulu, with links to discussions:
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/09/palestine-open-thread-2024-224/comments/page/2/#comments
If true, this exposes Taiwan as a participant in the ME war, IMO.
You mean ready-made with C-4 and detonator?
Yes. There was speculation that Israel supplied that in the process or Taiwan did so itself. I don’t have photographic memory so you might want to read it.
So we know well the tie to Washington, but , I know of nothing would tie them to Israel. So the contract was with the USM, no?
Israeli parliament visited Taiwan 5 months ago: trade, technology, yadda yadda.
So, while emphatically do they belong to Washington body & soul. I don’t believe Israel is in that same relationship, … commerce is one thing, partnering in genocide, another.
I’m beginning to not hold as much benefit of doubt. Leaders are different than “the people”. Look at Europe.
U.S. military reps visited Israel 5 days before the day of infamy. What was discussed?
So if I smuggle the parts for a nuclear weapon into Switzerland, assemble them, and detonate it, Switzerland is a “participant” in my nuking of it?
That’s not apples to apples.
Unless you're aware of evidence that the Taiwanese regime even knew of, let along sanctioned or participated in the operation, it is EXACTLY apples to apples.
Most regimes can't even stop people from importing and using large quantities of drugs — but somehow they're supposed to know that a foreign intelligence agency was stuffing explosives in special order pagers?
The Taiwan company Apollo is at the least responsible. They were licensing to a consulting company, but claiming they were manufacturers. Either the explosives were added inside Taiwan at that plant or elsewhere, and they didn’t inspect, quality control of the operation, nor did they bother to know whether a consulting company was farming out manufacturing or was the actual manufacturer. The Taiwan government doesn’t have any oversight of companies either?
If Apple licensed their logos and manufacturing of products and they ended up blowing up civilians, and they couldn’t even pinpoint where they were made, you don’t see that as an issue?
Because that is what happened.
“If Apple licensed their logos and manufacturing of products and they ended up blowing up civilians, and they couldn’t even pinpoint where they were made, you don’t see that as an issue?”
I would certainly see it as an issue.
But I wouldn’t automatically jump to the conclusion that Xi Jinping or the PRC Ministry of Commerce were “complicit” just because Apple products happen to be manufactured in China.
Fair. But that doesn’t stop my suspicions, and it turned out that a few of us were right about the shell companies.
Does Taiwan have an intelligence agency?
It has at least two intelligence agencies (National Security Bureau and Military Intelligence Bureau).
Hard to believe that they at least wouldn’t be given a heads up. Or do their jobs in knowing what other spies are doing.
Why is it so hard to believe that one intelligence service would pursue an operation without consulting other intelligence services — especially an operation that those other intelligence services might veto or interfere with?
I doubt that Hillary Clinton ran her plan to bug foreign diplomats’ offices at the UN past the intelligence services of other countries — even countries whose offices she didn’t plan to bug.
I don’t think they would veto it. That’s why.
Whenever the US invites a small country into the big bois club, the SOP is to incentivize the returns for leaders. It involves some degree of faustian bargain that advantages empire, and requires adherence to plots and ideology. It demands that empire enemies are enemies of that country too. That leads me to scrutinize actions that are in furtherance of imperialism, seemingly brought through the junior member. It’s like hazing.
Could I prove it beyond reasonable doubt? No, I couldn’t. But being suspicious is not a fringe idea.
I wouldn’t say being suspicious is a fringe idea.
But it is a less likely one than the Israelis conducting the operation without consulting the Taiwanese. They do stuff that relates to the US without consulting the US all the time, too. Including spying on the US itself. Putting some explosives in some pagers isn’t exactly the equivalent of D-Day — it could easily be done without anyone noticing.
That’s not the same thing.
Yes, they (the company) should’ve known who owned the companies and also inspected their facilities as well as their own.
This wasn’t a handful of tylenol bottles tainted and put on shelves. It was a big operation.
The governments are both military allies of the US with combined interests in wars. So I hold high suspicion of leadership.
It was a costly and well funded operation. Funding came from us. Funding continues.
Sure, using current logic, Switzerland is a participant because it exists. If it didn't exist there would be no nuclear weapons needed. Sort of like other countries existing too close to US overseas bases.
My understanding is that they were built by a subcontractor in Hungary.
No, that was a lie.
The person at the BAC company in Budapest, where the Apollo company spokesperson claimed the pagers were made, is a “consulting” company. Allegedly, there are ties to MI6. A bunch of people are lying. It sounds like a shell company.
I think it was always intended for US’ “greatest ally” to use against proximate enemies. Do Russian forces even use pagers?
Was just assuming the same security logic as Hezbollah.
I don’t follow? You mean the Russians?
I remember reading at one point the Russian troops had their cell phones confiscated, coz the NSA/USM was able to track and target, as well as listen in … same as they’re doing for IDF.
I thought that was Ukrainian soldiers, but so much info passes, I can’t keep track.
No proof here, my speculation is that the Budapest location might have been viewed as a safer bet, since Orban has been a reluctant EU member to engage or fund war.
As with Raiwan, I’m not ready to believe Orban would partner in genocide
BTW:
Zhao DaShuai 东北进修
@zhao_dashuai
·
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Posts from Chinese social media, stating factories are running overnight shifts to accommodate huge orders of communication devices from the Middle East.
A requirement from clients, is that the whole manufacturing process must be done inside China.
https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/18/un-general-assembly-calls-for-end-to-israeli-occupation-of-palestinian-territories/#comment-6553151608
Adding: I don’t think Orban had anything to do with it. I think the Budapest address of “manufacturing” was a ruse to create a false sense of security.
Ok. that makes sense.
As far as Taiwan leadership, think about the wealth and skimming by Zelensky (Sy Hersh) and how willing he is to sacrifice his own people for his puppet masters.
Ukrainians are victims of his own narcissistic impulses and greed. Sure, he probably has no choice at this point for his Faustian bargain, but he turned away peace and set up an authoritarian government to control any dissent. Western media has provided the nonstop propaganda for him.
BAC is quite interesting. The claim of what they do is so vague (and yet also covering a ridiculous number of industries) that you have to think it is a cover for something, if not intelligence then money laundering. The building in Hungary houses empty offices for a number of companies just needing an address. https://www.nysun.com/article/the-mystery-behind-the-woman-linked-to-the-pagers-that-exploded-across-lebanon
Yeah, we have no clue.
But the current rules based order is a criminal racket already.
The woman behind BAC has intelligence connections to the UK, allegedly.
The only Nazis are Hez,which teaches hatred of Jews everywhere.If you have information as to US involvement-let us see some evidence.
The Nazi's were the genocidal ones, with the aggressive militarized society. When they invaded countries, a national resistance would be formed. Thus correcting your mistaken historical analogy, the Israeli resemble the Nazis and Hezbollah resembles any of those resistance movements.
Lets hope therefore that history repeats itself, but skip the whole thing until right at the end, where the Nazi state is dismantled and the Nazi warcriminals are hung. Or if they so wish suicided and burnt to ashes in a courtyard.
You need to read Miko Peled's book when researching hatred of others.
I actually believe this. The Master doesn't tell the Servant and the Servant does not ask. Oh, yeah and Israel has officially leaped into Batman Villain territory. I honestly did not see that coming https://batman.fandom.com/wiki/Smylex#:~:text=The%20Joker%20began%20to%20spread,was%20used%20in%20certain%20combinations.
Israel had hand in manufacturing pagers that exploded in Lebanon: Source
Israel had a hand in the manufacturing of pagers that exploded on Hezbollah operatives this week, with this type of “supply chain interdiction” operation having been planned for at least 15 years, a U.S. intelligence source confirmed to ABC News.
Planning for the attack involved shell companies, with multiple layers of Israeli intelligence officers and their assets fronting a legitimate company that produced the pagers, the source confirmed to ABC News, with at least some of those doing the work unaware of who they were actually working for.
ABC News has reached out to BAC Consulting — the Hungary-based company contracted to produce the pagers on behalf of Gold Apollo in Taiwan — but neither company has responded to our repeated requests.
The pagers were never in Hungary and the company was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary,” a spokesperson for the Hungarian government told ABC News on Wednesday.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/israel-hand-manufacturing-pagers-exploded-lebanon-source/story?id=113851347#:~:text=Dozens of people have been killed in the pager attacks.&text=Israel had a hand in,source confirmed to ABC News.
They knew.
The funds for all of it? From the good old U.S. of A.
They say it was a use-it-or-lose-it moment, for Israel with their pager bomb terrorism, and also for Israel to use the US' generous offer of destroying Hezbollah's rockets for the terrorists so that Israelis will feel safe moving back into N Israel.
Bibi is desperate for another full scale war, and he finally might get it.
IMO, there is no question.
He is "crazy" for a full scale war.
Such a wonderful discourse happening here! Truly! You all make our day!
Terrorism, plain & simple.
righteous self defense,quite brilliant.
Eat shit Jake, you war crimes supporting psychopath.
Isreal is the enemy of humanity.
Was it "righteous self defense" to attack the U.S.S. Liberty, machine gunning survivors in life boats and floundering in the ocean????
No Liberty sailors went into the water doing that attack. Thus your statement of attacking survivors in the life boat is false. Take 30 minutes and read the now declassified report on the incident.
Secondly, the attack on the Liberty was a friendly fire incident. Read some history books on various conflicts, you will find it happens a lot. In WW2 US Navy lost 52 subs. Two of them were sunk by the US Navy.
Of course flying a twenty foot American flag off the ship, as well as identifying themselves to the IDF and the individual pilots, just added to the confusion, right? I mean since the Egyptian flag is almost identical to the US one, and Egyptian and English are so similar, then attacking the unarmed ship in international waters is perfectly understandable! Just another friendly fire incident! /s
Wow Using terrorism to fight terrorists. What a unique idea. Those Hezbollah members had it coming. The only problem I see was that they could not make the explosion bigger.
Being a supporter of genocide pretty much already implicated being a supporter of terrorism. But to expressly state you are a supporter of terrorism I suppose serves to eliminate all possible ambiguity, however superfluous that may be.
But to expressly state you are a supporter of terrorism
And he's scratching his nuts wondering how he did that.
I cannot help but admire your optimism.
I support the elimination of terrorists who chose to fire on Israel. You prefer to support people who want to destroy Israel.
“Using terrorism to fight terrorists. ” That’s the current lie being pushed by fitlhy hasbara scum anyway.
Of course, In Palestine, Zionists are the terrorists and always have been.
You support the mass murder of tens of thousands of civilians by Israel. You are the terrorist supporter here, you blood soaked psychopath.
"Using terrorism to fight terrorists. " That's the current lie being pushed by fitlhy hasbara scum anyway.
No, it isn't. They actually vehemently deny that Israel is also a terroristic entity. He fucked up by just admitting that they are using terrorism.
They must be off script hasbara, ‘but I’ve seen it a lot.
The lies don’t really have to be consistent. Sadistic war propaganda lives right alongside the victim narrative.
The dopey KKKristians lap it all up, cause it sez so in duh buy bull.
Consistency is a liability when writing hasbara, because with a consistent story once one portion of it is conclusively disproved it generates doubt about the rest of the story. If it resembles a shotgun blast though every story needs to be refuted individually.
Once again you can not write with out using the f word. I know you didn't go to college, did you even graduate from a high school?
Funny you didn't defend yourself from my accusation. But I did go to college. I didn't get a degree, but I had a 3.55 gpa for 56 credit hours. But I suppose it doesn't compare to your intelligence prowess. I see you proofread your comment this time since it wasn't filled with the usual misspellings and grammatical errors. But anyway, go fuck yourself. I just couldn't resist.
And you support the death of 10 million Israelis with your "Death to Israel" chant. So who is the real psychopath? You who want 10 million people dead or me who understand that war is hell and civilians die in urban combant.
Wrong again Timmy. That’s a false accusation.
Israel is an apartheid, ethno-state based on Jewish supremacy.
That state must die, just like apartheid South Africa did. How many million white people died along with apartheid fool?
Which makes them terrorists also. Thank you for finally admitting to that.
Zionism is inextricably intertwined with terrorism and the slaughter of innocent people.
Zionists terror exceeds Palestinian terror by many magnitudes.
End all US aid to the Israeli terror regime!.
Yeah, that 8 year-old girl in the market really deserved it for standing near some random shopper carrying a pager. /s
Damn, you're a barbarian.
What a sick fuck you are. zionist like you will destroy the world, such entitled arrogance and fanaticism. What's it feel like to be a nazi?
Like the good old days of booby trapping dead British soldiers, bombing King David Hotel and sending letter bombs to Churchill….
oh and then there is the poisoning of well water..
Israel has proven again to be on the forefront (of terrorism)!
(Oh..remember pager bombs good–Car bombs bad!)
Zionists invented the car bomb!
See Buda’s Wagon by Mike Davis
The first truck bomb was detonated by Zionists. Also Barrel bombs.
Precisely.
Wagon and cart bombs were used by raiders in the Civil War, and at least as far back as the Middle Ages in Europe. They were normally used against fortifications though, rather than innocent civilians.
Predecessors to the car bomb.
AOC JUST TRASHED HER CAREER
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said her office was vandalized with “blood-splattered signs” after she questioned whether the United States played a role in an Israeli operation that caused pagers and small electronic devices belonging to Hezbollah members to explode.
“Yesterday my House office was tagged with blood-splattered signs accusing me of supporting terrorism after I questioned the pager operation, which clearly runs counter to US policy,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a post to X on Friday. “They must live under a rock to not know I don’t take well to bullies.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/aoc-office-covered-with-blood-splattered-signs-after-questioning-exploding-pager-operation/ar-AA1qVky0
When told, Biden probably asked if his coffee was ready. And his muffin.
And Hungary helped the Mossad through their Budapest company BAC Consulting.
BAC is just a shell company with one employee, located in a building full of similar companies, whose owner has long standing ties to MI6. They don't actually manufacture anything, they're just a cut-out to make it more difficult to encounter the actual source where they were manufactured. Hungary has no more ties to this operation than Italy (where the owner was born) does.
You don’t know that.
Actually yeah, it's been traced that far. It's still unclear who the actual manufacturer was. BAC apparently was acting as a contractor who contracted for someone else to do the actual work, that's not common in the electronics industry.
Iuck Fsrael.