A horrific precedent. This is how American whistleblower Edward Snowden describes the “pager bombings” of Lebanon allegedly carried out by Israeli intelligence. In this context, he recalls the information that emerged from his own revelations about the systematic manipulation of commercial shipments by US authorities.
“What Israel has just done is, via *any* method, reckless”, Snowden wrote in a commentary on X.
On Tuesday, thousands of microbombs were detonated across Lebanon, apparently planted by Israeli intelligence agency Mossad on a shipment of pagers to the Lebanese paramilitary party Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said that civilian casualties were significant among the more than 2,700 people reported injured, 12 of them dead at the time of writing.
– Not all the injured people coming to the emergency room were young men. We saw children and elderly people, Abiad said according to AFP.
Edward Snowden is also critical of Israel’s attack, not only in light of the concrete damage to civilians but above all because of its moral consequences.
“What Israel has just done is, via *any* method, reckless. They blew up countless numbers of people who were driving (meaning cars out of control), shopping (your children are in the stroller standing behind him in the checkout line), et cetera. Indistinguishable from terrorism”, he writes on X.
Among the information Snowden revealed in his material to journalist Glenn Greenwald was that US authorities have for a long time systematically manipulated commercial shipments to install spy technology, among other things. Against this background, the whistleblower is also critical of how the incident was initially reflected in the US media.
“If it were iPhones that were leaving the factory with explosives inside, the media would be a hell of a lot faster to cotton on to what a horrific precedent has been set today. Nothing can justify this. It’s a crime. A crime. And everyone in the world is less safe for it”, Snowden continued.
