Against International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Convention, as well as several International trade and transportation laws, Israel launched an indiscriminate act of state-sponsored terrorism last week aimed at Lebanese people they could not identify, in places that they could not pinpoint, and in the vicinity of civilians that they could not gauge or exclude. It is estimated that more than three thousand explosions occurred in a span of less than three minutes across Lebanon, killing, maiming, or blinding thousands of Lebanese citizens.
While not admitting the crime, the Israelis indirectly stated that they had been “targeting” individuals affiliated with Hezbollah. However, their argument has been found to be lacking of any legal context or justification for several reasons.
Firstly, Israel failed to identify who they were targeting, given that Hezbollah as an organization and its activities span more than just the military, and rather delve into political, socio-economic, and medical areas with civilian servants numbering in the tens of thousands of thousands all over Lebanon, and many of whom are not at all involved in any military activity. As such, the attack can be considered indiscriminate and not “targeted” as Israel claims and therefore illegal under international humanitarian law.
Secondly, the Israelis also failed to determine the estimated collateral damage, resulting from such an attack, which is another rule imposed by agreed-upon conventions of war. Nations engaged in war are expected to make such calculations in order to minimize civilian casualties. The fact that the exploding pagers killed or maimed thousands of passersby, women, and children, which Israel could have never estimated from the outset, proves that the order to commit this crime in itself was an illegal act of war and those who took it should be prosecuted for it. And even if Israel argues that the pagers were expected to be in use by Hezbollah operatives, how could such an attack have known that an operative carrying such a pager was not in respite from the battle field, grocery shopping, or visiting family, or driving a car, or any other scenario, which could have led to more deaths of innocents. Is Israel trying to set an example that any operative anywhere is a target; and if so, does that mean its own reservist soldiers, when they are back home from the front lines and with their families are now also legitimate targets at any time, in any place, regardless of collateral damage to their own families? If so, then Israel is setting quite a dangerous precedent for the world.
Thirdly, as for the bombs themselves, the Israelis appear to have used a highly explosive chemical called PETN, which the New York Times estimated at 28 to 56 grams of explosives per device for a stunning sum total of more than 280 KG of high explosives. For reference, a mere 50 grams of chemicals were said to have been used to poison a former Russian military officer in London. At the time, the United Kingdom, supported by 28 countries unleashed a massive investigation by Theresa May's government, blamed Russia for violating international law, and announced a series of punitive measures against Russia, including the expulsion of diplomats. The two poisoned victims did not reportedly die. In contrast, Lebanon's 3,000 explosions killed more than thirty people, seriously injuring more than 400, with many of them cruelly losing their eyes, and a total casualty list reaching almost 3,000 wounded per Lebanon's ministry of health. And yet, the ensuing UK statement at the UN Security paid lip service to Israel's breaking of international humanitarian law, weighing it against the old adage of Israel's right to defend itself, as if that gave anyone the right for committing what amounts to no less than state-sponsored terrorism.
And finally, even way before the explosions occurred, the fact that Israel concocted such a cowardly act, by using harmless civilian technology devices for nefarious reasons, illegally converting them to bombs using commercial fronts not connected to the manufacturer, set a very dangerous precedent to criminals and terrorists all over the world. Has Israel now provided a blueprint for how to install such explosive devices in mobile phones, ship them on planes or trains, for them to pass security undetected, and explode at will, indiscriminately killing hundreds, if not thousands? It is indeed a commercial precedent that has many nations shuddering at the potential consequences as stated by the Chinese representative at the UN Security Council.
For all the above reasons, Israel and its leaders should be held to account by the international community and brought to justice by the appropriate legal bodies. In the very least, Lebanon's case should be appended to the cases already in front of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to further substantiate and evidence Israel's departure from civilized and lawful conduct within the international community.
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