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How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

reuters.com

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Re: How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

#21

Post by orwin »

matthberg wrote: post #15

This section of the literal Geneva Convention [1], which Israel is a signatory of [2] seems rather relevant. While this article's breakdown of the what's and how's is quite interesting, keeping international law in mind while talking about the attack seems important. - "2. It is prohibited to use booby-traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and const…

Yeah, it's the definition of a terror attack.

The really bad part is how lauded the Mossad was for it's 'precision' by the western media. Geneva convention violations, random children killed because Hezbollah militant were shopping/walking nearby, really 'precise'...

On the other hand killing only 5 children for two hundred opposants, and not at least twice as much is proof that Mossad is a hundred of time more precise than tsahal. But maybe that's a low bar.

Re: How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

#22

Post by myth_drannon »

orwin wrote: post #21
matthberg wrote: post #15

This section of the literal Geneva Convention [1], which Israel is a signatory of [2] seems rather relevant. While this article's breakdown of the what's and how's is quite interesting, keeping international law in mind while talking about the attack seems important. - "2. It is prohibited to use booby-traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and const…

Yeah, it's the definition of a terror attack. The really bad part is how lauded the Mossad was for it's 'precision' by the western media. Geneva convention violations, random children killed because Hezbollah militant were shopping/walking nearby, really 'precise'... On the other hand killing only 5 children for two hundred opposants, and not at least twice as much is proof that Mossad is a hundred of time more preci…

[flagged]

Re: How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

#23

Post by docdeek »

matthberg wrote: post #15

This section of the literal Geneva Convention [1], which Israel is a signatory of [2] seems rather relevant. While this article's breakdown of the what's and how's is quite interesting, keeping international law in mind while talking about the attack seems important. - "2. It is prohibited to use booby-traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and const…

[flagged]

Re: How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

#25

Post by owenmarshall »

krisoft wrote: post #18
wiz21c wrote: post #2

So did Mossad listen to the pagers ? I mean, instead of putting a bomb inside, spying would make more sense to me...

> spying would make more sense to me.. Probably they did. The problem with pager like communication is that it is very easy to employ codewords. Something like "if we send orange, bring your weapon and meet us at the market, if we send pear pack a week worth of stuff and meet us at the pumping station, if we send melon disappear to the countryside for two days". Monitoring that can give you a sense that "something is…

Of important note, none of that requires any modification to the pager. Paging protocols are ancient and unencrypted: a little SDR stick and you can run your own sigint on your local pager network.

Re: How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

#26

Post by soco »

avnfish wrote: post #13

Wow, they did a licensing deal with a legitimate manufacturer in Taiwan to get the battery listed on official websites? This runs so much deeper than I expected. Supply chains are one heck of an attack surface...

I wonder who else bought such special batteries, whether they were/are aware of that...

Re: How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

#27

Post by gizmondo »

throw32i3ii wrote: post #12

Key components are 6 grams of white pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and "highly flammable material" as a detonator. PETN was developed in 1906, and is accessible to more advanced hobby chemists. So we have explosive device that passes through airport security scanner. And can be made at home by dedicated individuals... What are the implications for air travel?

The trick is probably not to make PETN, but to package it in such a way there are no traces of it outside?

There are likely no implications for air travel. At least I always assumed that advanced state actors can make explosives that are undetectable by airport security scanners.

Re: How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

#28

Post by rougka »

matthberg wrote: post #15

This section of the literal Geneva Convention [1], which Israel is a signatory of [2] seems rather relevant. While this article's breakdown of the what's and how's is quite interesting, keeping international law in mind while talking about the attack seems important. - "2. It is prohibited to use booby-traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and const…

This is not "the literal Geneva Convention" but rather a UN convention held in Geneva.

Does it apply to unlawful combatants?

Re: How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

#29

Post by adhamsalama »

invalidname wrote: post #14
adhamsalama wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel has killed (and still is) killing tens of thousands of women and children, and starving the rest of the population.

If this were true you would see a lawsuit based on Leahy law in the states. The fact is it's just not. Israel has held aid occasionally but most of the problem with supplies have to do with Hamas stealing them. https://www.state.gov/key-topics-bureau-of-democracy-human-r... I don't support a lot of the stuff Israel is doing but painting it in this light is deeply incorrect and unfortunately hurts Palestinians. Both s…

A law in the states against Israel? Are you trying to be funny?

Re: How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

#30

Post by krisoft »

docdeek wrote: post #23
matthberg wrote: post #15

This section of the literal Geneva Convention [1], which Israel is a signatory of [2] seems rather relevant. While this article's breakdown of the what's and how's is quite interesting, keeping international law in mind while talking about the attack seems important. - "2. It is prohibited to use booby-traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and const…

[flagged]

> Don’t the Geneva Conventions only cover official combatants or the like?

You are free to quote where you think it says that. The prohibition is not conditional on the status of anyone. It is just a prohibition.

> Hezbollah, Hamas, ISIS - none of them are combatants that enjoy the protections of the GC, as I understand it.

That is a very controversial interpretation in itself. But even in the controversial cases where this was argued it was about the rights granted to prisoners of war. (That is, do the members of these organisations when captured count as prisoners of war? Should they be granted the same kind of protections?)

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