NZ joins rest of West in failing to call battery blasts by Israel terror attacks

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) remains silent after Israel kills dozens and maims 3400 people across Lebanon, actions a UN official says constitute a war crime.

A pager explodes in a man’s bag at a food market in Lebanon, injuring and terrifying shoppers. (Photo: Twitter/ENZ)

The New Zealand government has declined to state whether a series of battery explosions across Lebanon that killed dozens of people were mass acts of terrorism.

The bombings involving pagers, walkie talkies and other tech equipment last week was widely attributed to the work of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, as well as being lauded by Western media outlets as an audacious and innovative means of low-intensity warfare.

The pagers were brought into Lebanon for use by Hezbollah members as a low-tech means of safe internal communication within the movement, but were tampered with before entry and remotely detonated on Wednesday (NZT), horrifically maiming and killing 12 people, and injured 2300 in Lebanon and Syria.

The next day walkie talkies and consumer electrical goods were detonated, bringing the death toll to at least 37 and the number injured to approximately 3400, with Hezbollah members and civilians among the victims, including two children, according to the country’s health authority.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) was asked a number of times whether the New Zealand government considered the explosions acts of state terrorism. At the time of publication, it had failed to give an answer. Mfat did not release a public statement over the actions and joined other Western countries in avoiding to use the term terrorism to describe Israel’s actions.

Australia’s Foreign Ministry Penny Wong also declined to call Israel’s actions terrorism when asked directly. At a media conference last Thursday, Wong said Hezbollah remained a terrorist organisation and expressed concern over the possibility of an escalation in violence.

Hezbollah scholar Amal Saad said Israel’s battery warfare on Lebanon went well beyond a typical mass terrorist attack.

“It stands out not only for its capacity to incite widespread fear and terror but as a highly advanced and uniquely malevolent form of terrorism,” the Cardiff University lecturer said.

A victim of the Israeli terror attack struggles to remain on his moped bike after his pager exploded leaving a horrific wound on its side. (Photo: Twitter/RDH)

“This tactic isn't just about instilling fear—it seeks to make that fear all-encompassing and inescapable, leading an entire society to believe that Israel is everywhere: in their pockets, in their ears, and even in their children's bedrooms.

“The goal is not merely to demoralise Hizbullah’s cadres, but to trigger a societal cognitive collapse, trying to break down the mental resilience of an entire population. It creates a ubiquitous and perpetual terror that corrodes reality, trust and security, leaving a pervasive and unrelenting sense of dread.”

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Friday the attacks “had unleashed widespread fear, panic, and horror among people in Lebanon” and that the perpetrators must be held to account. He called for an independent investigation.

“It is a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians,” he said.

 “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, as applicable, international humanitarian law…

“International humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby-trap devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material.”

Former CIA director Leon Panetta told CBS news Israel’s tactic amounted to a “war of terror” and that nations needed to confront the issue now as it would have repercussions in the future.

He said: “I don’t think there’s any question it is a form of terrorism… When you have terror going into the supply chain, it makes people ask the question, ‘what the hell is next’.

“It is going to be very important for the nations of the world to have a serious discussion about whether or not this is an area that everybody needs to focus on, because if they don’t try to deal with it now, mark my words, it is the battlefield of the future.”

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said it had authorised Hungarian company BAC Consulting to use its name on the pagers and was responsible for their manufacture and design, although the Hungarian government denied the items had passed through Budapest and said the pagers were not produced in Hungary.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah called last week’s attacks “a declaration of war.”

Israel has been engaged ethnic cleansing of Gaza and a military onslaught since October 7 that the International Court of Justice has ruled plausible acts of genocide. Israel’s assault on Gaza followed Hamas’ surprise attack in southern Israel, which left over 300 security force members dead, as well as an unknown number of civilians.

Some 1039 civilians were listed as having been killed, both by Palestinian resistance fighters and the IDF, which fired on dozens of homes and vehicles as part of its Hannibal Directive, a doctrine employed to avoid hostage-taking by its enemies.

Hezbollah has been attacking Israeli forces from Lebanon’s southern border in defence of Palestinians since then.  

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says a new phase of war has begun. (Photo: US Department of Defense/Chad J McNeeley)

Some of the most intense bombing of Lebanon during the current round of conflict occurred over the weekend following last week’s terror attacks. At least 38 people, including high-ranking Hezbollah commanders, were killed in an Israeli strike on southern Beirut. The dead also included three children.

The IDF had been targeting the country with intensified airstrikes since Thursday, following an announcement by Israel that it was entering a new phase of its war. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel’s focus had moved to the northern front with Lebanon.

Hezbollah responded by launching several dozen rockets at the Ramat David air base in northern Israel and other targets on Saturday, with a number landing some 50km inside Israeli borders near Haifa.

The prospects of a wider regional conflict are increasing, with many analysts pointing to Israel’s intent to provoke Iran and Hezbollah into an all-out war, so it can bring the United States into a direct military confrontation with its adversaries. The chances of Russia then coming to the aid of its ally Iran could cause a third world war and nuclear exchange.