Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, has “many enemies,” while Israel is only “defending itself,” President Isaac Herzog has said
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has made ambiguous comments regarding the alleged involvement of West Jerusalem in the mass detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon last week.
Herzog made the remarks during an interview with Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday, as the host questioned the president about the seemingly indiscriminate nature of the attacks, which killed at least 37 people, including two children, and injured approximately 3,000.
“I reject out of hand any connection to this or that source of operation,” Herzog stated.
When asked whether Israel denies its involvement altogether or assigns blame to another party for the attacks, the president declined to do so. Instead, he accused Hezbollah of “destroying Lebanon” in the first place.
“I did not allude to anything except saying that there are many enemies of Hezbollah out there, quite a few these days. Hezbollah has been choking Lebanon, destroying Lebanon, creating havoc in Lebanon again and again and again. We are here simply to defend ourselves. That’s all we do,” he stated.
Israeli intelligence is widely suspected to be behind the attacks, which have been met with widespread condemnation internationally. The explosives were likely planted in the devices during the manufacturing process and activated remotely.
UN human rights commissioner Volker Turk, for example, labeled the incident “shocking” and said it had unleashed profound “fear and terror.”
“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, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” he stated.