In a symbolic gesture, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented US President Donald Trump with a golden pager, commemorating a covert Israeli operation that targeted Hezbollah strongholds in 2018 using thousands of detonated pagers.
Israel i Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gifted US President Donald Trump with a golden pager during a White House visit on Tuesday. The symbolic gesture referenced a covert operation that utilized thousands of low-tech electronic pagers in a targeted attack against Hezbollah strongholds in September 2018. The golden pager, placed in the middle of a dissected tree trunk, bears the inscription: “Press with both hands.” A small placard attached to the gift reads: “To President Donald J.
Trump, our greatest friend and greatest ally. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” Trump responded to the unique gift by stating, “That was a great operation.” He then presented Netanyahu with a photo of the two men from the Israeli Prime Minister’s previous US visit, inscribed: “To Bibi, a great leader.”The September 2018 operation involved the detonation of thousands of Taiwan-built Gold Apollo pagers across Hezbollah strongholds. The explosion occurred when owners attempted to decode an encrypted message received via text, triggering the hidden explosives. At least 12 people, including two children and two healthcare workers, were killed, and over 3,000 were injured across Lebanon and Syria. The following day, hundreds of Hezbollah walkie-talkies, also laced with the highly explosive compound PETN, detonated simultaneously. Reports indicate that up to three grams of explosives were concealed within each pager, undetected by Hezbollah for months.The complex ambush, swiftly attributed to Israel, drew international attention and sparked debate regarding its legality. Human Rights Watch warned that the attacks might constitute a violation of international humanitarian law due to the use of pagers as booby-traps, a seemingly normal civilian item, rendering the attacks indiscriminate. Lama Fakih, Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa director, expressed concern: “The use of an explosive device whose exact location could not be reliably known would be unlawfully indiscriminate.”
ISRAEL NETANYAHU TRUMP HEZBOLLAH EXPLOSIVE PAGERS MILITARY OPERATION
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