Israel used booby-trapped communication devices in a 2024 attack that killed dozens and maimed thousands in Lebanon<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has displayed a pager at the UN General Assembly, invoking a deadly 2024 covert sabotage operation targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon that killed dozens and severely wounded thousands, including women and children.
\nThousands of pagers carried by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on September 17, 2024, followed by hundreds of weaponized walkie-talkies the next day. The attacks killed dozens and injured up to 4,000 people, including numerous civilian bystanders, healthcare workers and their families. Israel later acknowledged responsibility for the operation.
\nSpeaking at the General Assembly on Thursday, Netanyahu held up a pager, saying: \u201cYou remember the beepers? Remember these?\u201d He added: \u201cHezbollah certainly remembers them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu: “Remember the beepers (pagers)? Hezbollah certainly remembers” pic.twitter.com\/W11O0YdjeR\u2014 Israel National News – Arutz Sheva (@ArutzSheva_En) September 24, 2026 <\/p>\n
Scores of delegates walked out as Netanyahu took the podium, leaving much of the hall empty. The Palestinian mission had urged other delegations to join the protest.<\/p>\n
Delegations from more than 70 countries walked out of the United Nations General Assembly hall.No one wants to listen to the words of a war criminal and a killer of the children of #Gaza. pic.twitter.com\/UWSwxeOmen\u2014 Iran in India (@Iran_in_India) September 24, 2026 <\/p>\n
Netanyahu struck a confrontational tone throughout the speech, branding delegates who walked out \u201cmoral cowards\u201d and lashing out at several of Israel\u2019s regional and international critics. He called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a \u201ctyrant,\u201d accused Qatar of trying to \u201cbrainwash\u201d young Americans, and predicted that Iran\u2019s government would eventually fall.<\/p>\n
The Iranian representative didn\u2019t want the starlink \ud83d\ude41 pic.twitter.com\/wpElxvrrr4\u2014 Danny Danon \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 \u05d3\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d3\u05e0\u05d5\u05df (@dannydanon) September 24, 2026 <\/p>\n
He also held up a Starlink terminal, saying he would leave it for the Iranian delegation to use when its members \u201cinevitably defect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested outside UN during Netanyahu speech (VIDEOS)<\/p>\n
Netanyahu publicly confirmed Israel\u2019s role in in the pager attack in November 2024, while his spokesman said the prime minister had personally approved it. Two former senior Mossad agents later told CBS that the Israeli intelligence agency had spent years preparing the operation, using shell companies to secretly insert the explosive devices into Hezbollah\u2019s supply chain.
\nDuring a White House meeting in February 2025, Netanyahu presented US President Donald Trump with a gold-plated pager and a regular one in reference to the attack. Trump reportedly called it \u201ca great operation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Netanyahu gives Trump \u2018Hezbollah pager\u2019 \u2013 media<\/p>\n
The pager attack marked what Israeli officials described as a \u201cnew phase\u201d of Israel\u2019s war with Hezbollah and was followed by an intensified military campaign in Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut later that month, before Israeli forces launched ground incursions into southern Lebanon.
\nFighting flared again in March 2026, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel following the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran. A US-brokered ceasefire in June largely halted major Israeli strikes on Beirut, although Israeli forces continue to occupy parts of southern Lebanon and carry out attacks elsewhere in the country. More than 4,000 people have been killed and over 12,000 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March, according to the country\u2019s Health Ministry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel used booby-trapped communication devices in a 2024 attack that killed dozens and maimed thousands in Lebanon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has displayed a pager at the UN General…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t