Israel admits, for the first time, that it ordered the attacks with pagers e walkie-talkies in September in Lebanon, which left at least 40 dead and more than almost 4,000 injured. In the last week, he spoke with Trump three times: “we agree”.
Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Israeli responsibility for the deaths of Hezbollah fighters in September, and also recalled his responsibility in , leader of the Shiite organization, in a statement seen as a veiled criticism of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“The operation with pagers and the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was triggered despite opposition from senior officials of the military class and those responsible in the political ranks”, according to statements to the Israeli daily Times of Israel.
Even though the September 17 and 18 explosions were initially attributed to a computer attack, US officials confirmed to The New York Times that the secret Israeli bombs had been obtained, months earlier, from a new batch of around 3,000 pagers imported into Lebanon.
Explosive material weighing approximately 30 to 60 grams was introduced near the battery of each pager and one system that could be activated remotely to detonate upon arrival in Lebanonafter Hezbollah distributed the equipment among its members in Lebanon, Syria and even Iran.
According to , this first confession from Netanyahu comes at a time when Israel and the US are joining forces: the Israeli president and Donald Trump have had three telephone conversations in recent days.
Trump assured that “these conversations were very good and very important, with the aim of reinforcing the solid alliance between Israel and the United States”, and added that the two countries are “agreement on the Iranian threat in all its aspects and the danger it poses. We also see the great opportunities that lie ahead for Israel – in peace and expansion, and in other areas.”
During his first term, Trump multiplied gestures in favor of Israelmoving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and contributing to normalization of links between Israel and several Arab countries with the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020.
