Israel has every right to fight back. They happened to have worked hard figuring out the strategy for low tech military strike. Congratulations for taking out the heads of Hezbollah terrorists.
It has been proven in the last couple of days that the pager operation saved Israeli lives. The fear was that Hezbollah had over 100,000 rockets and missiles they could launch at Israel and overwhelm defenses. That has not happened and the IDF now estimates that up to 75% of the Hezbollah rocket arsenal has been destroyed. Hopefully in the next few days that number will be higher.
These lefty people will say whatever is convenient for their agenda, even if it is appropriate or legal for Israel to do this, while they say nothing about the rockets, continually being fired into Israel, while condemning Israel’s attack against it’s adversaries
Israel has already lost the propaganda war. With each killing of civilians, women and children, they are burning through the formerly large store of good will that they had from the holocaust. Non-Jewish, non-Muslim Americans are increasingly sympathetic to the Palestinians because the Israeli armed forces are seen as more brutal than the Russians.
''If you’re a friend of Israel you have to try and get through to Alan Dershowitz that he shouldn’t be defending it. It’s like having a wingman who’s wearing a Marvel Comics shirt and hasn’t brushed his teeth.''
Viewers of this podcast are being defrauded. They think they are getting wisely considered legal opinions from a celebrity assumed to be intelligent. But instead Dershowitz orates unbalanced biases with fictive support.. He believes that truth might be interesting but unity of listeners with his message is far more important. Considering his tenure with Jeffrey Epstein, accurate legal opinions would hardly be expected. As usual in this podcast he gives only his own biased propaganda, always defending the Jewish state regardless of its excesses and treatment of non-Jews. The starting point is that the pager attack was unexpected, completely unprecedented as a means of causing mass casualties. The salient point is that the pager attacks were not directed to target combatants.
Hezbollah is functionally a state within Lebanon. It provides the civil services to the people in its jurisdictions. Hezbollah runs local police who arrest jaywalkers and give speeding tickets, teachers who educate children, doctors and heath workers who try to repair injured bodies and civic administrators who operate and coordinate services, and the social workers who pay the disabled a pension. This is the civil wing of Hezbollah- - -absolutely separate fro the military wing which since at least 2006 has relied on optical fiber for its communications- - -not pagers. The pagers were bought for the civil wing.¨
The pager attack certainly caused disruption, but not of the military, the combatants. Instead Israel targeted the civil wing and seemed to do a good job of killing about 40 civilians and mutilating 3000 others, mostly with loss of eyes and hands.. Dershowitz demonstrates in every podcast about the Mideast fighting that he clearly does not know international Humanitarian Law and cannot be bothered to educate himself on i terpretation of the term "proportionality" which he completely and without sourcing misinterprets. Ok he is 86, and what can you expect.. But know he is so wrong claiming that overall Israel is allowed in its overall actions to kill 4 civilians for every one combatant. This statement is false, Each incident is individually judged. No court with jurisdiction has ever set the Law. At the most charitable to this very old man unresponsive to new facts or judgments, he is engaging in WISHFUL THINKING. . Every single military action is defined by Law individually as to whether it constitutes the basis of a war crime.. The fact that Israeli jets bombed a house while its occupants were at the store does not mean that when Israel kills 8 children at a kindergarten that israel gets to average the two attacks together and claim "well, in two attacks we killed only 4 (each)" Yeah but israel does that anyway..
Hezbollah was designated a terrorist organization by the United States since 1997 and is designated as such for obvious reasons, they are terrorists, and iit is how they obtain power.
I would think any criticism of Israel for civilian deaths, by anyone who didn’t and doesn’t unequivocally condemn the killing of innocent civilians including American citizens on October 7, or the constant rocket attacks on civilians, including women and children, is worthless and has no value. They have no credibility.
Dershowitz is expert in international law and constitutional law among other areas of law. He has also been a criminal defense attorney expert for decades and part of that job involves defending any and all persons including high profile notorious persons who have charged with alleged crimes at the time - which every person in the USA has that right ( unlike Iran or it’s Islamic terrorist proxies like Hezbollah who have bright Lebanon into hostile submission killing off enemies of subjecting non Shia Lebanese into fear - and who murdered over 200 USA military personal in Lebanon - therefore your cheap shot has no merit against Dershowitz for defending and doing his job is pathetic and despicable…
Spare me your morality on Hezbollah Islamic terrorists ( - the enemies of USA and its allies ) deaths by pagers. Osama Bin Laden and his cronies were also killed and then thrown into the sea - and deservedly so
A member of the home front command carries a fragment from a rocket following missile strikes by Hezbollah in Kiryat Bilaik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah intensified on Sunday as the Lebanon-based group launched about 115 rockets, missiles and drones toward vast areas of Israel's north. Photographer: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Last week the world watched as the terrorist army Hezbollah was hit by an attack that was equal parts debilitating and humiliating. On Tuesday, September 17, the special pagers carried by Hezbollah operatives suddenly exploded. Then, on Wednesday, their walkie talkies literally blew up.
Although Israel has not claimed responsibility for the operation, in the event they did carry out this historically unprecedented strike, it was entirely justified and in full accordance with international law.
It is not surprising that it did not take long for the usual chorus of anti-Israel politicians and pundits — those who only remember International Humanitarian Law (IHL) whenever they think it might hurt the Jewish State — to find some obscure provision, divorced from context, that they might deceptively latch onto and accuse Israel of violating, knowing full well that the uneducated armchair ‘experts’ who blindly follow them would thoughtlessly amplify their claims, muddy the waters of good vs. evil, and somehow make Israel the bad guy again.
This time, the frenzied cries centered around Article 7 of the Amended Protocol II to the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which prohibits the use of booby-traps in certain circumstances. Pseudo-academics like Kenneth Roth could not wait to tell their breathless adherents that IHL unequivocally “prohibits the use of booby traps” — even though it is obvious that if booby traps are prohibited in certain circumstances, they must be permitted in others.
For the record, this is one of those permitted times, and here, with citations, is why.
First, it is important to establish that communication devices ordered by terrorists, issued to terrorists, for terrorist purposes, do not count as harmless civilian objects. Under Article 52 of the Additional Protocols to Geneva Convention I, the communication devices that a designated foreign terrorist organization issues to its operatives are legitimate military targets, and this should not be controversial. The fact that civilians may also use cell phones does not mean that you cannot target a terrorist call center.
Article 7 of the Amended Protocol II provides certain restrictions as to the use of booby traps and other similar devices. Paragraph 1 lists certain categories of objects — religious objects, children’s toys, etc. — for which it is prohibited to use booby traps in all circumstances. The devices in question do not fall under any of those categories.
Paragraph 2 of Article 7 prohibits using booby traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material. As the U.S. Department of Defense Law of War Manual explains:
The prohibition is intended to prevent the production of large quantities of dangerous objects that can be scattered around and are likely to be attractive to civilians, especially children.
It has nothing to do with communications devices procured by terrorists for terrorists, devices that were not specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material, and were instead modified to detonate once they clearly became military objects.
Paragraph 3 of Article 7 reminds us that even when permissible any such weapon must be placed “in the close vicinity of a military objective.” It is hard to imagine a more surgically precise procedure than the destruction of personal devices that were (literally) held by terrorists.
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Analyzing the legality of a military operation also requires factoring in the principles of necessity, distinction, and proportionality. The principle of necessity permits actions necessary to accomplish a legitimate military purpose. In this instance, in a single operation, an entire enemy army was significantly impacted, and not only physically – the attack also exposed the Hezbollah network, in Lebanon but also throughout the Middle East where Hezbollah agents or affiliates were carrying these specific Hezbollah issued pagers. The devastating psychological impact also cannot be discounted; Hezbollah can no longer trust their own equipment, cannot communicate (ironically, they are rumored to have switched to pagers out of concerns Israel was monitoring their comms!), and will have to change many elements of their operations with the potential to make further mistakes that can then be exploited.
The principle of distinction requires combatants to distinguish between civilians and military objectives during armed conflict. Here, the attack specifically targeted combatants, members of the Hezbollah army who had received specific Hezbollah equipment that is usually kept on their person. The law does not require perfect accuracy, which is impossible, and that leads to the principle of proportionality: Would such an attack be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects or a combination thereof which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage that is anticipated In this case, not a chance. Recall that Hezbollah has been bombing Israel incessantly for almost a year. In a swift and defensive maneuver — fully legal under Article 51 of the UN Charter — Israel (allegedly) immobilized a large segment of a terrorist organization actively hellbent on the genocidal elimination of the country.
Reports say that a few civilians, including two children, were tragically hurt as well. Innocent civilians getting hurt is absolutely tragic, but not in any way unlawful or Israel’s fault.
The truth is that the entire booby trap framework of analysis is wrong. IF Israel did commit these actions, then it was perhaps the finest and cleanest act of lawful sabotage in military history. As the ICRC explains:
Sabotage is generally the work of individuals or small formations operating in enemy-controlled territory and taking advantage of clandestinity, surprise, and ruses of war. It is generally carried out with great precision and therefore does not usually harm the civilian population. The targets of sabotage must form part of the enemy’s material infrastructure, that is, they must be military objectives. To sum up, sabotage against the enemy is a lawful operation provided the legal rules for the choice of targets and the methods and means employed are respected.
To quote one actual international humanitarian law expert, Eugene Kontorovitch:
Those protesting the attack on Hezbollah cell phones would have been crying over bombs placed on Nazi Germany’s train tracks.
The sad conclusion is this: if you are among those who were silent while Hezbollah committed thousands of undeniable, uncontested, and unprovoked war crimes against innocent Israeli civilians — killing men, women, and children in the process — and yet now find yourself horrified that Israel finally responded in a lawful, targeted manner by neutering (in some cases literally) hundreds of the terrorists who had been indiscriminately attacking them for months — your problem is not with Israel’s actions under international law; it is with Israel’s very existence.
* * *
John Spencer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point and host of the ”Urban Warfare Project Podcast.” He is the co-author of “Understanding Urban Warfare.”
Mark Goldfeder is a law professor and Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center.
Arsen Ostrovsky is a human rights attorney who serves as CEO of The International Legal Forum and senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Dershowitz is expert in international law and constitutional law among other areas of law. He has also been a criminal defense attorney expert for decades and part of that job involves defending any and all persons including high profile notorious persons who have charged with alleged crimes at the time - which every person in the USA has that right ( unlike Iran or it’s Islamic terrorist proxies like Hezbollah who have bright Lebanon into hostile submission killing off enemies of subjecting non Shia Lebanese into fear - and who murdered over 200 USA military personal in Lebanon - therefore your cheap shot has no merit against Dershowitz for defending and doing his job is pathetic and despicable…
Spare me your morality on Hezbollah Islamic terrorists ( - the enemies of USA and its allies ) deaths by pagers. Osama Bin Laden and his cronies were also killed and then thrown into the sea - and deservedly so
He has never even claimed he has credentials and /or experience in international law..His primary experience is experience as a hard core defender of the government of Israel, namely Netanyahu. Both Dershowitz and Epstein met as zionists and engaged mega-rich Jewish donors on the basis of that ideology. From funds acquired , Epstein branched off to the concept of organized gathering of information relating to the Mideast, then to blackmail to gain influence and acquire illegitimate benefits for the state of Israel such as release of Pollard and pardon of Marks, and theft of 800 krytons. But it led to the underage child rape organization, since blackmail of old men with underage children, filmed/photographed, was an especially effective means of turning the sex predators into israeli assets. Evidence in the form of depositions and witness statements from the child victims show that Dershowitz was not just a legal advisor protecting Epstein from the Law. Rather evidence specifically shows Dershowitz as a participant, dick deep involved in sampling the girls, penetrating them serially and in interstate locations. We know that when the Epstein operation unraveled, Dershowitz was so concerned that he pressed Federal DA Acosta for a secret blanket full immunity for all Epstein activities, excusing his failure to comply with State'Mandatory Reporting of the sexual abuse of underage children with the excuse of attorney-client relationship and recycling the old Nazi "I did not know"claim. Acosta was piled on by people of wealth and influence and even told that the Epstein operation was run by a foreign intelligence agency and Acosta was told to lay off. If he were innocent, why did Dershowitz have to put so many resources into getting the secret full immunity? What did he have to fear from criminal or civil court adjudication which could put verification or not on the allegations of pedophilic crime.?
And where was Dershowitz's legal skill? The secret non-prosecution decision was invalidated by Federal Appellate Court three years later because its secrecy violated the Federal Victims Protection Act. Then to avoid civil court adjudicating the accusations of serial rape by the 73 year old Dershowitz and interstate child sex trafficking, well read New Yorker, July 25,2019 for a fly-on-the-wall account of how 1 million dollars was paid in hush money to avoid civil trial. Money and power from zionists got Dershowitz off the hook, He remains completely unpunished for credibly alleged pedophilic crimes of a gag-inducing content. One deposition describes in detail Dershowitz's naked body. Memorable. We are allowed by law to use our common sense to judge the kind of person Dershowitz is. Many zionists are blinded by their ideology, just as communists were. So you will not investigate Dershowitz's background. So be it. This comment is for the truthseekers.
And the accusations against Dershowitz by Virginia Guifre were withdrawn because she lied and told many changing stories - after he counter sued her. … so get educated on facts not supposition.
Sarah Ransome lied about Dershowitz too and claimed she had tapes on Branson and Trump etc - then she admitted she lied about that too..
Jimmy: she got the million dollars. Guess what? Money talks. And tells why Dershowitz would arrange payment of so much money. Npw if your first paragraph content were true, why would Dersh arrange the million dollar payout?` Is a million dollar payout nuisance money? Common sense may applied here. No clean hands on the Emeritus. And more. She even publicly stated that her acceptance of the million dollar hush money "did not exonerate Dershowitz". I would happily take that to a criminal court jury. The multiple allegations show Dershowitz stinks of guilt for pedophilia and violation of statutory rape laws. The payout is confirming. But you did not know any of this so you choose not to seriously investigate available information. You write and investigate like a Soros prosecutor. Of course Dershowitz is holding the worst details secret.
Dershowitz paid her no money - this is false. Dershowitz never met her and he has consistently called her a liar and her allegations after so many years were finally WITHDRAWN she said saying she must have made a MISTAKE about Dershowitz so the litigation ended….
Deceptive information, Jimmy. Read more deeply. My statement is the same as that in New Yorker: Dershowitz ARRANGED PAYMENT OF A MILLION DOLLARS TO Virginia. Dershowitz planned to say he was exonerated, and could hardly get away with that claim if he directly paid her. So he and his group arranged that a third party pay Virginia.
The New Yorker article identifies the payor,
It was also arranged that the payor pay Dershowitz 50K so he could tell the NYTimes that he had been paid money for the settlement! Cunning, right?
The previously cited New Yorker article was the product of an intensive investigation of this settlement; a fly-on-the-wall source appeared and New Yorker printed the exact opposite of what you have just written. Issue of July 25, 2019. It is noted that Dershowitz won no defamation lawsuit about this article so you may rest assured that what was printed by New Yorker is God's own truth.
Considering the disinformation you wrote, Jimmy, I wonder if your name is a "nom de plume2 for Dershowitz himself?
So wealthy Jewish people donating to support Israel is a good thing and is nothing new
Don’t know anything about the espionage and operation for Israel and if Epstein was really used - that’s a theory that will never be proven or disproven ever it seems.
try on the basis so far of the circumstantial evidence. Once in motion, a criminal investigation picks up lots of momentum. There are people who know whether Dershowitz was actively involved in the blackmail, the transmission of secret information.and even direct contact with Mossad agents in transmission. That is as relevant as Dershowitz serial pedophilia investigation.. Contacts regarding propaganda work with the Israeli Ministry of strategic Affairs is also relevant especially given his lack of registration as a foreign agent despite a Substack and Youtube platform..
Thanks for the link. There are a few obvious problems: 1) Spencer is absolutely not a lawyer yet he writes a "legal" analysis 2) there are credibility issues since he has already been very conspicuous in his frequent support of PM Netanyahu and the IDF, never admitting to a scintilla of criticism, to the point where even some of West Point's notoriously hierarchial and non-confrontational staff has wondered if he is required to register as a foreign agent under the FARA Law and whether those activities are compatible with his vocational responsibilities at the Point 3) the article is written with a clear polemical emphasis, giving it a High School debating ambient, for example Kenneth Roth, a professor at Princeton is described as a "pseudo.academic". I will read it again in a few days and see if i can find more respect for the content.
Yes he does though and he clearly knows more than you. Epstein is irrelevant stop conflating. plea deals are part of what good attorneys do for their client - again irrelevant to the topic you are being demonstrably wrong and incorrect bias obsessed freak - no offence. You know nothing clearly abd talking irrelevant shit - Dershowitz is correct on the merits objectively applied
This is consistent with what Professor Dershowitz of law stated bellow - written by other expert lawyers too - BELOW that blunt your shit shut. - but again I suspect you will conflate irrelevant off topic again
The Law Of Exploding Pagers
John Spencer, Mark Goldfeder, and Arsen Ostrovsky
Sep 25, 2024
A member of the home front command carries a fragment from a rocket following missile strikes by Hezbollah in Kiryat Bilaik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah intensified on Sunday as the Lebanon-based group launched about 115 rockets, missiles and drones toward vast areas of Israel's north. Photographer: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Last week the world watched as the terrorist army Hezbollah was hit by an attack that was equal parts debilitating and humiliating. On Tuesday, September 17, the special pagers carried by Hezbollah operatives suddenly exploded. Then, on Wednesday, their walkie talkies literally blew up.
Although Israel has not claimed responsibility for the operation, in the event they did carry out this historically unprecedented strike, it was entirely justified and in full accordance with international law.
It is not surprising that it did not take long for the usual chorus of anti-Israel politicians and pundits — those who only remember International Humanitarian Law (IHL) whenever they think it might hurt the Jewish State — to find some obscure provision, divorced from context, that they might deceptively latch onto and accuse Israel of violating, knowing full well that the uneducated armchair ‘experts’ who blindly follow them would thoughtlessly amplify their claims, muddy the waters of good vs. evil, and somehow make Israel the bad guy again.
This time, the frenzied cries centered around Article 7 of the Amended Protocol II to the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which prohibits the use of booby-traps in certain circumstances. Pseudo-academics like Kenneth Roth could not wait to tell their breathless adherents that IHL unequivocally “prohibits the use of booby traps” — even though it is obvious that if booby traps are prohibited in certain circumstances, they must be permitted in others.
For the record, this is one of those permitted times, and here, with citations, is why.
First, it is important to establish that communication devices ordered by terrorists, issued to terrorists, for terrorist purposes, do not count as harmless civilian objects. Under Article 52 of the Additional Protocols to Geneva Convention I, the communication devices that a designated foreign terrorist organization issues to its operatives are legitimate military targets, and this should not be controversial. The fact that civilians may also use cell phones does not mean that you cannot target a terrorist call center.
Article 7 of the Amended Protocol II provides certain restrictions as to the use of booby traps and other similar devices. Paragraph 1 lists certain categories of objects — religious objects, children’s toys, etc. — for which it is prohibited to use booby traps in all circumstances. The devices in question do not fall under any of those categories.
Paragraph 2 of Article 7 prohibits using booby traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material. As the U.S. Department of Defense Law of War Manual explains:
The prohibition is intended to prevent the production of large quantities of dangerous objects that can be scattered around and are likely to be attractive to civilians, especially children.
It has nothing to do with communications devices procured by terrorists for terrorists, devices that were not specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material, and were instead modified to detonate once they clearly became military objects.
Paragraph 3 of Article 7 reminds us that even when permissible any such weapon must be placed “in the close vicinity of a military objective.” It is hard to imagine a more surgically precise procedure than the destruction of personal devices that were (literally) held by terrorists.
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Analyzing the legality of a military operation also requires factoring in the principles of necessity, distinction, and proportionality. The principle of necessity permits actions necessary to accomplish a legitimate military purpose. In this instance, in a single operation, an entire enemy army was significantly impacted, and not only physically – the attack also exposed the Hezbollah network, in Lebanon but also throughout the Middle East where Hezbollah agents or affiliates were carrying these specific Hezbollah issued pagers. The devastating psychological impact also cannot be discounted; Hezbollah can no longer trust their own equipment, cannot communicate (ironically, they are rumored to have switched to pagers out of concerns Israel was monitoring their comms!), and will have to change many elements of their operations with the potential to make further mistakes that can then be exploited.
The principle of distinction requires combatants to distinguish between civilians and military objectives during armed conflict. Here, the attack specifically targeted combatants, members of the Hezbollah army who had received specific Hezbollah equipment that is usually kept on their person. The law does not require perfect accuracy, which is impossible, and that leads to the principle of proportionality: Would such an attack be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects or a combination thereof which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage that is anticipated In this case, not a chance. Recall that Hezbollah has been bombing Israel incessantly for almost a year. In a swift and defensive maneuver — fully legal under Article 51 of the UN Charter — Israel (allegedly) immobilized a large segment of a terrorist organization actively hellbent on the genocidal elimination of the country.
Reports say that a few civilians, including two children, were tragically hurt as well. Innocent civilians getting hurt is absolutely tragic, but not in any way unlawful or Israel’s fault.
The truth is that the entire booby trap framework of analysis is wrong. IF Israel did commit these actions, then it was perhaps the finest and cleanest act of lawful sabotage in military history. As the ICRC explains:
Sabotage is generally the work of individuals or small formations operating in enemy-controlled territory and taking advantage of clandestinity, surprise, and ruses of war. It is generally carried out with great precision and therefore does not usually harm the civilian population. The targets of sabotage must form part of the enemy’s material infrastructure, that is, they must be military objectives. To sum up, sabotage against the enemy is a lawful operation provided the legal rules for the choice of targets and the methods and means employed are respected.
To quote one actual international humanitarian law expert, Eugene Kontorovitch:
Those protesting the attack on Hezbollah cell phones would have been crying over bombs placed on Nazi Germany’s train tracks.
The sad conclusion is this: if you are among those who were silent while Hezbollah committed thousands of undeniable, uncontested, and unprovoked war crimes against innocent Israeli civilians — killing men, women, and children in the process — and yet now find yourself horrified that Israel finally responded in a lawful, targeted manner by neutering (in some cases literally) hundreds of the terrorists who had been indiscriminately attacking them for months — your problem is not with Israel’s actions under international law; it is with Israel’s very existence.
* * *
John Spencer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point and host of the ”Urban Warfare Project Podcast.” He is the co-author of “Understanding Urban Warfare.”
Mark Goldfeder is a law professor and Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center.
Arsen Ostrovsky is a human rights attorney who serves as CEO of The International Legal Forum and senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Epstein is critical to any discussion about Dershowitz. Dershowitz has evaded by influence, money and intimidation a judicial adjudicastion of very serious crimes alleged. Since topics of serial pedophilic crime, child sex trafficking, blackmail and espionage for a foreign power are extremely well associated with morality, respect and compliance with American Law and of course values of how gentiles (like the groomed children) may be treated, this is all important ballast for listening to Dershowitz¨s incessant leitmotifs of one-sided very unbalanced exhorations.
Greg starr is a troll obsessed with Dershowitz and Jews. He can spew all the crap he wants. Israel is winning and will win this war and will not be deterred by the lies spit out by antisemites. Israel will not be stopped in fighting for its survival.
Of course as usual Dershowitz is not informing us of what the law is but rather his wishful thinking of what it should be in a Zionist Supremacy world.
As a complement the normal Dershowitz propaganda coordinated with the Ministry of Strategic Affairs in Jerusalem, some relevant investigative matters should be presented relating to Dershowitz's podcast about the pager terror attack by the state of Israel. . The starting point is that it was Hizbollah Civil Section devoted to administering services for its civilian population, that ordered the pagers These Hizbollah affiliated employees are non-combatants, police, teachers, medical staff, social workers, and administrators.,. Secondly, International Humanitarian Law applies to targeting of non-combatants, Thirdly there is some information on the Mossad pager operation now being investigated by Norwegian police. The Hezbollah payment for the pagers was funnelled thru Sofia,Bulgaria to a company with one employee and only a postal address, Nota Global. It is registered and owned by Rinson Jose, a Kerala-born Norwegian citizen with a home in Mortensrud, Oslo. The payment was then transmitted by Jose to BAC Consulting in Budapest, ,a shell company functioning obviously a Mossad front. Jose was a striver, always looking for opportunity. He was linked into Founders Nation, a website aiming to connect Israeli entrepreneurs. Jose disappeared on the Tuesday on which the pagers exploded, His Kerala-born wife also disappeared. No one lives at their Mortensrud home. Jose's day job employer DN (Dagens Næringsliv) employed him in digital sales. His boss there says he left that Tuesday for the United States. Jose has been unfindable since. Norwegian police have yesterday issued an international arrest warrant for Jose. Norwegian police have had earlier experience arresting Mossad agents connected to murder. Had the Epstein case a situs in Norway, Dershowitz more probably would have been indicted.
@Christopher brunet can you say something of substance to back up your claim that "the pager attack was terrorism"? It was an attack on a terrorist group that has been activity bombarding civilians for almost a year. A legal scholar has just given a number of justifications for the attack. Do you really think anyone is going to listen to your puff of smoke without some kind of justification?
First off those pagers and Phones were distributed to not just to Hazbolla. Children getting killed is not targeted warfare or even assassination. Now all of us are in the same boat. Who knows what govt source has put a device into every American Phone. That is the only good thing that came from this.
did you really just write that "the only good that can come from this is if someone put a device into every American phone"?
Children getting killed during a war is tragic, and can be collateral damage as in the case of this cell-phone attack. Or it can be intentional acts of depravity, like what Hamas did on October 7th. Or negligence, like Hezbolla shooting missiles into civilian towns and killing 12 Druze kids playing soccer.
If you can distinguish collateral damage from intentional targeting of civilians then you need to get your brain checked.
Israel has every right to fight back. They happened to have worked hard figuring out the strategy for low tech military strike. Congratulations for taking out the heads of Hezbollah terrorists.
It has been proven in the last couple of days that the pager operation saved Israeli lives. The fear was that Hezbollah had over 100,000 rockets and missiles they could launch at Israel and overwhelm defenses. That has not happened and the IDF now estimates that up to 75% of the Hezbollah rocket arsenal has been destroyed. Hopefully in the next few days that number will be higher.
These lefty people will say whatever is convenient for their agenda, even if it is appropriate or legal for Israel to do this, while they say nothing about the rockets, continually being fired into Israel, while condemning Israel’s attack against it’s adversaries
Israel has already lost the propaganda war. With each killing of civilians, women and children, they are burning through the formerly large store of good will that they had from the holocaust. Non-Jewish, non-Muslim Americans are increasingly sympathetic to the Palestinians because the Israeli armed forces are seen as more brutal than the Russians.
the pager operation was terrorism
my friend Ben had a good tweet about you: https://x.com/BDSixsmith/status/1838437303263383892
''If you’re a friend of Israel you have to try and get through to Alan Dershowitz that he shouldn’t be defending it. It’s like having a wingman who’s wearing a Marvel Comics shirt and hasn’t brushed his teeth.''
Let's not make it too complicated- this is just another case of Dershowitz coming to the defense of a detestable, murderous client.
Viewers of this podcast are being defrauded. They think they are getting wisely considered legal opinions from a celebrity assumed to be intelligent. But instead Dershowitz orates unbalanced biases with fictive support.. He believes that truth might be interesting but unity of listeners with his message is far more important. Considering his tenure with Jeffrey Epstein, accurate legal opinions would hardly be expected. As usual in this podcast he gives only his own biased propaganda, always defending the Jewish state regardless of its excesses and treatment of non-Jews. The starting point is that the pager attack was unexpected, completely unprecedented as a means of causing mass casualties. The salient point is that the pager attacks were not directed to target combatants.
Hezbollah is functionally a state within Lebanon. It provides the civil services to the people in its jurisdictions. Hezbollah runs local police who arrest jaywalkers and give speeding tickets, teachers who educate children, doctors and heath workers who try to repair injured bodies and civic administrators who operate and coordinate services, and the social workers who pay the disabled a pension. This is the civil wing of Hezbollah- - -absolutely separate fro the military wing which since at least 2006 has relied on optical fiber for its communications- - -not pagers. The pagers were bought for the civil wing.¨
The pager attack certainly caused disruption, but not of the military, the combatants. Instead Israel targeted the civil wing and seemed to do a good job of killing about 40 civilians and mutilating 3000 others, mostly with loss of eyes and hands.. Dershowitz demonstrates in every podcast about the Mideast fighting that he clearly does not know international Humanitarian Law and cannot be bothered to educate himself on i terpretation of the term "proportionality" which he completely and without sourcing misinterprets. Ok he is 86, and what can you expect.. But know he is so wrong claiming that overall Israel is allowed in its overall actions to kill 4 civilians for every one combatant. This statement is false, Each incident is individually judged. No court with jurisdiction has ever set the Law. At the most charitable to this very old man unresponsive to new facts or judgments, he is engaging in WISHFUL THINKING. . Every single military action is defined by Law individually as to whether it constitutes the basis of a war crime.. The fact that Israeli jets bombed a house while its occupants were at the store does not mean that when Israel kills 8 children at a kindergarten that israel gets to average the two attacks together and claim "well, in two attacks we killed only 4 (each)" Yeah but israel does that anyway..
Hezbollah was designated a terrorist organization by the United States since 1997 and is designated as such for obvious reasons, they are terrorists, and iit is how they obtain power.
I would think any criticism of Israel for civilian deaths, by anyone who didn’t and doesn’t unequivocally condemn the killing of innocent civilians including American citizens on October 7, or the constant rocket attacks on civilians, including women and children, is worthless and has no value. They have no credibility.
Yes agree
Dershowitz is expert in international law and constitutional law among other areas of law. He has also been a criminal defense attorney expert for decades and part of that job involves defending any and all persons including high profile notorious persons who have charged with alleged crimes at the time - which every person in the USA has that right ( unlike Iran or it’s Islamic terrorist proxies like Hezbollah who have bright Lebanon into hostile submission killing off enemies of subjecting non Shia Lebanese into fear - and who murdered over 200 USA military personal in Lebanon - therefore your cheap shot has no merit against Dershowitz for defending and doing his job is pathetic and despicable…
Spare me your morality on Hezbollah Islamic terrorists ( - the enemies of USA and its allies ) deaths by pagers. Osama Bin Laden and his cronies were also killed and then thrown into the sea - and deservedly so
The Law Of Exploding Pagers
John Spencer, Mark Goldfeder, and Arsen Ostrovsky
Sep 25, 2024
A member of the home front command carries a fragment from a rocket following missile strikes by Hezbollah in Kiryat Bilaik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah intensified on Sunday as the Lebanon-based group launched about 115 rockets, missiles and drones toward vast areas of Israel's north. Photographer: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Last week the world watched as the terrorist army Hezbollah was hit by an attack that was equal parts debilitating and humiliating. On Tuesday, September 17, the special pagers carried by Hezbollah operatives suddenly exploded. Then, on Wednesday, their walkie talkies literally blew up.
Although Israel has not claimed responsibility for the operation, in the event they did carry out this historically unprecedented strike, it was entirely justified and in full accordance with international law.
It is not surprising that it did not take long for the usual chorus of anti-Israel politicians and pundits — those who only remember International Humanitarian Law (IHL) whenever they think it might hurt the Jewish State — to find some obscure provision, divorced from context, that they might deceptively latch onto and accuse Israel of violating, knowing full well that the uneducated armchair ‘experts’ who blindly follow them would thoughtlessly amplify their claims, muddy the waters of good vs. evil, and somehow make Israel the bad guy again.
This time, the frenzied cries centered around Article 7 of the Amended Protocol II to the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which prohibits the use of booby-traps in certain circumstances. Pseudo-academics like Kenneth Roth could not wait to tell their breathless adherents that IHL unequivocally “prohibits the use of booby traps” — even though it is obvious that if booby traps are prohibited in certain circumstances, they must be permitted in others.
For the record, this is one of those permitted times, and here, with citations, is why.
First, it is important to establish that communication devices ordered by terrorists, issued to terrorists, for terrorist purposes, do not count as harmless civilian objects. Under Article 52 of the Additional Protocols to Geneva Convention I, the communication devices that a designated foreign terrorist organization issues to its operatives are legitimate military targets, and this should not be controversial. The fact that civilians may also use cell phones does not mean that you cannot target a terrorist call center.
Article 7 of the Amended Protocol II provides certain restrictions as to the use of booby traps and other similar devices. Paragraph 1 lists certain categories of objects — religious objects, children’s toys, etc. — for which it is prohibited to use booby traps in all circumstances. The devices in question do not fall under any of those categories.
Paragraph 2 of Article 7 prohibits using booby traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material. As the U.S. Department of Defense Law of War Manual explains:
The prohibition is intended to prevent the production of large quantities of dangerous objects that can be scattered around and are likely to be attractive to civilians, especially children.
It has nothing to do with communications devices procured by terrorists for terrorists, devices that were not specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material, and were instead modified to detonate once they clearly became military objects.
Paragraph 3 of Article 7 reminds us that even when permissible any such weapon must be placed “in the close vicinity of a military objective.” It is hard to imagine a more surgically precise procedure than the destruction of personal devices that were (literally) held by terrorists.
Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!
Analyzing the legality of a military operation also requires factoring in the principles of necessity, distinction, and proportionality. The principle of necessity permits actions necessary to accomplish a legitimate military purpose. In this instance, in a single operation, an entire enemy army was significantly impacted, and not only physically – the attack also exposed the Hezbollah network, in Lebanon but also throughout the Middle East where Hezbollah agents or affiliates were carrying these specific Hezbollah issued pagers. The devastating psychological impact also cannot be discounted; Hezbollah can no longer trust their own equipment, cannot communicate (ironically, they are rumored to have switched to pagers out of concerns Israel was monitoring their comms!), and will have to change many elements of their operations with the potential to make further mistakes that can then be exploited.
The principle of distinction requires combatants to distinguish between civilians and military objectives during armed conflict. Here, the attack specifically targeted combatants, members of the Hezbollah army who had received specific Hezbollah equipment that is usually kept on their person. The law does not require perfect accuracy, which is impossible, and that leads to the principle of proportionality: Would such an attack be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects or a combination thereof which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage that is anticipated In this case, not a chance. Recall that Hezbollah has been bombing Israel incessantly for almost a year. In a swift and defensive maneuver — fully legal under Article 51 of the UN Charter — Israel (allegedly) immobilized a large segment of a terrorist organization actively hellbent on the genocidal elimination of the country.
Reports say that a few civilians, including two children, were tragically hurt as well. Innocent civilians getting hurt is absolutely tragic, but not in any way unlawful or Israel’s fault.
The truth is that the entire booby trap framework of analysis is wrong. IF Israel did commit these actions, then it was perhaps the finest and cleanest act of lawful sabotage in military history. As the ICRC explains:
Sabotage is generally the work of individuals or small formations operating in enemy-controlled territory and taking advantage of clandestinity, surprise, and ruses of war. It is generally carried out with great precision and therefore does not usually harm the civilian population. The targets of sabotage must form part of the enemy’s material infrastructure, that is, they must be military objectives. To sum up, sabotage against the enemy is a lawful operation provided the legal rules for the choice of targets and the methods and means employed are respected.
To quote one actual international humanitarian law expert, Eugene Kontorovitch:
Those protesting the attack on Hezbollah cell phones would have been crying over bombs placed on Nazi Germany’s train tracks.
The sad conclusion is this: if you are among those who were silent while Hezbollah committed thousands of undeniable, uncontested, and unprovoked war crimes against innocent Israeli civilians — killing men, women, and children in the process — and yet now find yourself horrified that Israel finally responded in a lawful, targeted manner by neutering (in some cases literally) hundreds of the terrorists who had been indiscriminately attacking them for months — your problem is not with Israel’s actions under international law; it is with Israel’s very existence.
* * *
John Spencer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point and host of the ”Urban Warfare Project Podcast.” He is the co-author of “Understanding Urban Warfare.”
Mark Goldfeder is a law professor and Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center.
Arsen Ostrovsky is a human rights attorney who serves as CEO of The International Legal Forum and senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
GREG STARR WHAT A MORON YOU ARE
Dershowitz is expert in international law and constitutional law among other areas of law. He has also been a criminal defense attorney expert for decades and part of that job involves defending any and all persons including high profile notorious persons who have charged with alleged crimes at the time - which every person in the USA has that right ( unlike Iran or it’s Islamic terrorist proxies like Hezbollah who have bright Lebanon into hostile submission killing off enemies of subjecting non Shia Lebanese into fear - and who murdered over 200 USA military personal in Lebanon - therefore your cheap shot has no merit against Dershowitz for defending and doing his job is pathetic and despicable…
Spare me your morality on Hezbollah Islamic terrorists ( - the enemies of USA and its allies ) deaths by pagers. Osama Bin Laden and his cronies were also killed and then thrown into the sea - and deservedly so
He has never even claimed he has credentials and /or experience in international law..His primary experience is experience as a hard core defender of the government of Israel, namely Netanyahu. Both Dershowitz and Epstein met as zionists and engaged mega-rich Jewish donors on the basis of that ideology. From funds acquired , Epstein branched off to the concept of organized gathering of information relating to the Mideast, then to blackmail to gain influence and acquire illegitimate benefits for the state of Israel such as release of Pollard and pardon of Marks, and theft of 800 krytons. But it led to the underage child rape organization, since blackmail of old men with underage children, filmed/photographed, was an especially effective means of turning the sex predators into israeli assets. Evidence in the form of depositions and witness statements from the child victims show that Dershowitz was not just a legal advisor protecting Epstein from the Law. Rather evidence specifically shows Dershowitz as a participant, dick deep involved in sampling the girls, penetrating them serially and in interstate locations. We know that when the Epstein operation unraveled, Dershowitz was so concerned that he pressed Federal DA Acosta for a secret blanket full immunity for all Epstein activities, excusing his failure to comply with State'Mandatory Reporting of the sexual abuse of underage children with the excuse of attorney-client relationship and recycling the old Nazi "I did not know"claim. Acosta was piled on by people of wealth and influence and even told that the Epstein operation was run by a foreign intelligence agency and Acosta was told to lay off. If he were innocent, why did Dershowitz have to put so many resources into getting the secret full immunity? What did he have to fear from criminal or civil court adjudication which could put verification or not on the allegations of pedophilic crime.?
And where was Dershowitz's legal skill? The secret non-prosecution decision was invalidated by Federal Appellate Court three years later because its secrecy violated the Federal Victims Protection Act. Then to avoid civil court adjudicating the accusations of serial rape by the 73 year old Dershowitz and interstate child sex trafficking, well read New Yorker, July 25,2019 for a fly-on-the-wall account of how 1 million dollars was paid in hush money to avoid civil trial. Money and power from zionists got Dershowitz off the hook, He remains completely unpunished for credibly alleged pedophilic crimes of a gag-inducing content. One deposition describes in detail Dershowitz's naked body. Memorable. We are allowed by law to use our common sense to judge the kind of person Dershowitz is. Many zionists are blinded by their ideology, just as communists were. So you will not investigate Dershowitz's background. So be it. This comment is for the truthseekers.
And the accusations against Dershowitz by Virginia Guifre were withdrawn because she lied and told many changing stories - after he counter sued her. … so get educated on facts not supposition.
Sarah Ransome lied about Dershowitz too and claimed she had tapes on Branson and Trump etc - then she admitted she lied about that too..
Jimmy: she got the million dollars. Guess what? Money talks. And tells why Dershowitz would arrange payment of so much money. Npw if your first paragraph content were true, why would Dersh arrange the million dollar payout?` Is a million dollar payout nuisance money? Common sense may applied here. No clean hands on the Emeritus. And more. She even publicly stated that her acceptance of the million dollar hush money "did not exonerate Dershowitz". I would happily take that to a criminal court jury. The multiple allegations show Dershowitz stinks of guilt for pedophilia and violation of statutory rape laws. The payout is confirming. But you did not know any of this so you choose not to seriously investigate available information. You write and investigate like a Soros prosecutor. Of course Dershowitz is holding the worst details secret.
Dershowitz paid her no money - this is false. Dershowitz never met her and he has consistently called her a liar and her allegations after so many years were finally WITHDRAWN she said saying she must have made a MISTAKE about Dershowitz so the litigation ended….
Deceptive information, Jimmy. Read more deeply. My statement is the same as that in New Yorker: Dershowitz ARRANGED PAYMENT OF A MILLION DOLLARS TO Virginia. Dershowitz planned to say he was exonerated, and could hardly get away with that claim if he directly paid her. So he and his group arranged that a third party pay Virginia.
The New Yorker article identifies the payor,
It was also arranged that the payor pay Dershowitz 50K so he could tell the NYTimes that he had been paid money for the settlement! Cunning, right?
The previously cited New Yorker article was the product of an intensive investigation of this settlement; a fly-on-the-wall source appeared and New Yorker printed the exact opposite of what you have just written. Issue of July 25, 2019. It is noted that Dershowitz won no defamation lawsuit about this article so you may rest assured that what was printed by New Yorker is God's own truth.
Considering the disinformation you wrote, Jimmy, I wonder if your name is a "nom de plume2 for Dershowitz himself?
So wealthy Jewish people donating to support Israel is a good thing and is nothing new
Don’t know anything about the espionage and operation for Israel and if Epstein was really used - that’s a theory that will never be proven or disproven ever it seems.
try on the basis so far of the circumstantial evidence. Once in motion, a criminal investigation picks up lots of momentum. There are people who know whether Dershowitz was actively involved in the blackmail, the transmission of secret information.and even direct contact with Mossad agents in transmission. That is as relevant as Dershowitz serial pedophilia investigation.. Contacts regarding propaganda work with the Israeli Ministry of strategic Affairs is also relevant especially given his lack of registration as a foreign agent despite a Substack and Youtube platform..
https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-law-of-exploding-pagers
Thanks for the link. There are a few obvious problems: 1) Spencer is absolutely not a lawyer yet he writes a "legal" analysis 2) there are credibility issues since he has already been very conspicuous in his frequent support of PM Netanyahu and the IDF, never admitting to a scintilla of criticism, to the point where even some of West Point's notoriously hierarchial and non-confrontational staff has wondered if he is required to register as a foreign agent under the FARA Law and whether those activities are compatible with his vocational responsibilities at the Point 3) the article is written with a clear polemical emphasis, giving it a High School debating ambient, for example Kenneth Roth, a professor at Princeton is described as a "pseudo.academic". I will read it again in a few days and see if i can find more respect for the content.
Yes he does though and he clearly knows more than you. Epstein is irrelevant stop conflating. plea deals are part of what good attorneys do for their client - again irrelevant to the topic you are being demonstrably wrong and incorrect bias obsessed freak - no offence. You know nothing clearly abd talking irrelevant shit - Dershowitz is correct on the merits objectively applied
This is consistent with what Professor Dershowitz of law stated bellow - written by other expert lawyers too - BELOW that blunt your shit shut. - but again I suspect you will conflate irrelevant off topic again
The Law Of Exploding Pagers
John Spencer, Mark Goldfeder, and Arsen Ostrovsky
Sep 25, 2024
A member of the home front command carries a fragment from a rocket following missile strikes by Hezbollah in Kiryat Bilaik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah intensified on Sunday as the Lebanon-based group launched about 115 rockets, missiles and drones toward vast areas of Israel's north. Photographer: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Last week the world watched as the terrorist army Hezbollah was hit by an attack that was equal parts debilitating and humiliating. On Tuesday, September 17, the special pagers carried by Hezbollah operatives suddenly exploded. Then, on Wednesday, their walkie talkies literally blew up.
Although Israel has not claimed responsibility for the operation, in the event they did carry out this historically unprecedented strike, it was entirely justified and in full accordance with international law.
It is not surprising that it did not take long for the usual chorus of anti-Israel politicians and pundits — those who only remember International Humanitarian Law (IHL) whenever they think it might hurt the Jewish State — to find some obscure provision, divorced from context, that they might deceptively latch onto and accuse Israel of violating, knowing full well that the uneducated armchair ‘experts’ who blindly follow them would thoughtlessly amplify their claims, muddy the waters of good vs. evil, and somehow make Israel the bad guy again.
This time, the frenzied cries centered around Article 7 of the Amended Protocol II to the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which prohibits the use of booby-traps in certain circumstances. Pseudo-academics like Kenneth Roth could not wait to tell their breathless adherents that IHL unequivocally “prohibits the use of booby traps” — even though it is obvious that if booby traps are prohibited in certain circumstances, they must be permitted in others.
For the record, this is one of those permitted times, and here, with citations, is why.
First, it is important to establish that communication devices ordered by terrorists, issued to terrorists, for terrorist purposes, do not count as harmless civilian objects. Under Article 52 of the Additional Protocols to Geneva Convention I, the communication devices that a designated foreign terrorist organization issues to its operatives are legitimate military targets, and this should not be controversial. The fact that civilians may also use cell phones does not mean that you cannot target a terrorist call center.
Article 7 of the Amended Protocol II provides certain restrictions as to the use of booby traps and other similar devices. Paragraph 1 lists certain categories of objects — religious objects, children’s toys, etc. — for which it is prohibited to use booby traps in all circumstances. The devices in question do not fall under any of those categories.
Paragraph 2 of Article 7 prohibits using booby traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material. As the U.S. Department of Defense Law of War Manual explains:
The prohibition is intended to prevent the production of large quantities of dangerous objects that can be scattered around and are likely to be attractive to civilians, especially children.
It has nothing to do with communications devices procured by terrorists for terrorists, devices that were not specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material, and were instead modified to detonate once they clearly became military objects.
Paragraph 3 of Article 7 reminds us that even when permissible any such weapon must be placed “in the close vicinity of a military objective.” It is hard to imagine a more surgically precise procedure than the destruction of personal devices that were (literally) held by terrorists.
Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!
Analyzing the legality of a military operation also requires factoring in the principles of necessity, distinction, and proportionality. The principle of necessity permits actions necessary to accomplish a legitimate military purpose. In this instance, in a single operation, an entire enemy army was significantly impacted, and not only physically – the attack also exposed the Hezbollah network, in Lebanon but also throughout the Middle East where Hezbollah agents or affiliates were carrying these specific Hezbollah issued pagers. The devastating psychological impact also cannot be discounted; Hezbollah can no longer trust their own equipment, cannot communicate (ironically, they are rumored to have switched to pagers out of concerns Israel was monitoring their comms!), and will have to change many elements of their operations with the potential to make further mistakes that can then be exploited.
The principle of distinction requires combatants to distinguish between civilians and military objectives during armed conflict. Here, the attack specifically targeted combatants, members of the Hezbollah army who had received specific Hezbollah equipment that is usually kept on their person. The law does not require perfect accuracy, which is impossible, and that leads to the principle of proportionality: Would such an attack be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects or a combination thereof which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage that is anticipated In this case, not a chance. Recall that Hezbollah has been bombing Israel incessantly for almost a year. In a swift and defensive maneuver — fully legal under Article 51 of the UN Charter — Israel (allegedly) immobilized a large segment of a terrorist organization actively hellbent on the genocidal elimination of the country.
Reports say that a few civilians, including two children, were tragically hurt as well. Innocent civilians getting hurt is absolutely tragic, but not in any way unlawful or Israel’s fault.
The truth is that the entire booby trap framework of analysis is wrong. IF Israel did commit these actions, then it was perhaps the finest and cleanest act of lawful sabotage in military history. As the ICRC explains:
Sabotage is generally the work of individuals or small formations operating in enemy-controlled territory and taking advantage of clandestinity, surprise, and ruses of war. It is generally carried out with great precision and therefore does not usually harm the civilian population. The targets of sabotage must form part of the enemy’s material infrastructure, that is, they must be military objectives. To sum up, sabotage against the enemy is a lawful operation provided the legal rules for the choice of targets and the methods and means employed are respected.
To quote one actual international humanitarian law expert, Eugene Kontorovitch:
Those protesting the attack on Hezbollah cell phones would have been crying over bombs placed on Nazi Germany’s train tracks.
The sad conclusion is this: if you are among those who were silent while Hezbollah committed thousands of undeniable, uncontested, and unprovoked war crimes against innocent Israeli civilians — killing men, women, and children in the process — and yet now find yourself horrified that Israel finally responded in a lawful, targeted manner by neutering (in some cases literally) hundreds of the terrorists who had been indiscriminately attacking them for months — your problem is not with Israel’s actions under international law; it is with Israel’s very existence.
* * *
John Spencer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point and host of the ”Urban Warfare Project Podcast.” He is the co-author of “Understanding Urban Warfare.”
Mark Goldfeder is a law professor and Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center.
Arsen Ostrovsky is a human rights attorney who serves as CEO of The International Legal Forum and senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Epstein is critical to any discussion about Dershowitz. Dershowitz has evaded by influence, money and intimidation a judicial adjudicastion of very serious crimes alleged. Since topics of serial pedophilic crime, child sex trafficking, blackmail and espionage for a foreign power are extremely well associated with morality, respect and compliance with American Law and of course values of how gentiles (like the groomed children) may be treated, this is all important ballast for listening to Dershowitz¨s incessant leitmotifs of one-sided very unbalanced exhorations.
Greg starr is a troll obsessed with Dershowitz and Jews. He can spew all the crap he wants. Israel is winning and will win this war and will not be deterred by the lies spit out by antisemites. Israel will not be stopped in fighting for its survival.
Of course as usual Dershowitz is not informing us of what the law is but rather his wishful thinking of what it should be in a Zionist Supremacy world.
As a complement the normal Dershowitz propaganda coordinated with the Ministry of Strategic Affairs in Jerusalem, some relevant investigative matters should be presented relating to Dershowitz's podcast about the pager terror attack by the state of Israel. . The starting point is that it was Hizbollah Civil Section devoted to administering services for its civilian population, that ordered the pagers These Hizbollah affiliated employees are non-combatants, police, teachers, medical staff, social workers, and administrators.,. Secondly, International Humanitarian Law applies to targeting of non-combatants, Thirdly there is some information on the Mossad pager operation now being investigated by Norwegian police. The Hezbollah payment for the pagers was funnelled thru Sofia,Bulgaria to a company with one employee and only a postal address, Nota Global. It is registered and owned by Rinson Jose, a Kerala-born Norwegian citizen with a home in Mortensrud, Oslo. The payment was then transmitted by Jose to BAC Consulting in Budapest, ,a shell company functioning obviously a Mossad front. Jose was a striver, always looking for opportunity. He was linked into Founders Nation, a website aiming to connect Israeli entrepreneurs. Jose disappeared on the Tuesday on which the pagers exploded, His Kerala-born wife also disappeared. No one lives at their Mortensrud home. Jose's day job employer DN (Dagens Næringsliv) employed him in digital sales. His boss there says he left that Tuesday for the United States. Jose has been unfindable since. Norwegian police have yesterday issued an international arrest warrant for Jose. Norwegian police have had earlier experience arresting Mossad agents connected to murder. Had the Epstein case a situs in Norway, Dershowitz more probably would have been indicted.
@Christopher brunet can you say something of substance to back up your claim that "the pager attack was terrorism"? It was an attack on a terrorist group that has been activity bombarding civilians for almost a year. A legal scholar has just given a number of justifications for the attack. Do you really think anyone is going to listen to your puff of smoke without some kind of justification?
First off those pagers and Phones were distributed to not just to Hazbolla. Children getting killed is not targeted warfare or even assassination. Now all of us are in the same boat. Who knows what govt source has put a device into every American Phone. That is the only good thing that came from this.
did you really just write that "the only good that can come from this is if someone put a device into every American phone"?
Children getting killed during a war is tragic, and can be collateral damage as in the case of this cell-phone attack. Or it can be intentional acts of depravity, like what Hamas did on October 7th. Or negligence, like Hezbolla shooting missiles into civilian towns and killing 12 Druze kids playing soccer.
If you can distinguish collateral damage from intentional targeting of civilians then you need to get your brain checked.
There has been no more humanitarian strike on terrorists in history. Efficient and lacking collateral damage.
Few subjects so neatly identify the sort of people who aren't fit for a free society than this one.
Yes
100% correct!