Israel Extends War to Lebanon, As the Majority in UN Supports Palestine

As we prepare this issue of the Strategic Alert, tensions between Israel and the Hezbollah in Lebanon have escalated to the point of threatening an all-out war in the region, involving Iran. Strikes on both sides have continued for days now. The attacks surged after the two waves of explosion of pagers and two-way radios last week in Lebanon supposedly belonging to members of the Hezbollah, which caused some 30 deaths immediately and thousands of wounded, most of whom simply happened to be in the vicinity of the detonations in supermarkets, on playgrounds, in the streets. Since then, hundreds have died and thousands have been wounded in bombings.

According to a report in the Sept. 19 New York Times citing anonymous sources, Israel’s secret service Mossad had produced the remotely-controlled pagers in a fake company they set up in Hungary, and inserted PETN explosives inside. Then in 2022, the pagers were shipped to Lebanon, awaiting activation by Israel. Other stories have circulated as to how and where the explosives were introduced, but they all blame the Israeli secret services.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk condemned the attacks, and called for an independent investigation.“Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” he stated.

The escalation on the part of the crazed Netanyahu government also reflects the growing condemnation of Israel in the world, outside of the trans-Atlantic area. On Sept. 18, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution introduced by Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour, which states that the “State of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Territory is unlawful,” and that Israel must end it within 12 months. A key passage calls on all countries to “take steps towards” ending the “provision of or transfer of arms, munitions, and related equipment to Israel”, if there are “reasonable grounds to suspect they may be used in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

The vote on the resolution was 124 in favor, 14 against, and 43 abstentions, that is, over two-thirds of the world community. Among those countries voting against, in addition to Israel and the United States, were Hungary, and Czechia. We note that from Western Europe, Belgium, France, Ireland, and Spain voted for.

The resolution, which was co-sponsored by at least 30 other countries, incorporates and is based on the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion from July 19 on this matter, which found the case for Israeli genocide in Gaza to be plausible and demanded it stop its activities. The resolution is non-binding, but it spotlights parameters to end the war, and establish justice.