'Israel' clearly intended to target Lebanese civilians: The Guardian

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Guardian
19 Sep 2024 09:44
7 Shares

The newspaper accuses "Israel" of violating war treaties it is a signatory of.

Listen

A man holds a walkie-talkie device with the logo of Japanese firm Icom after he removed the battery during the funeral of persons killed when pagers distributed to Hezbollah among other parties exploded across Lebanon the previous day, in Beirut's southern suburb on September 18, 2024. (AFP)

"Israel", in its recent terrorist attacks using booby-trapped pagers and two-way radios, which were detonated indiscriminately among Lebanese citizens, has violated decades-long war treaties that were created for attacks of this sort, The Guardian pointed out on Wednesday, adding that the world is at the edge of war, "and none of this would be possible" without the United States "complicity and assistance."

In an editorial titled "The Guardian view on Israel’s booby-trap war: illegal and unacceptable," the newspaper mentioned that the treaty prohibits "in all circumstances to use booby-traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects that are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material."

Over 3,200 people were wounded, and more than 30 were martyred – including women and children – in two separate Israeli terrorist attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, involving the remote detonation of booby-trapped pagers and two-way radios. The devices exploded while their holders were going about their daily lives—shopping, sitting with family, working, or driving on busy roads—placing everyone nearby in immediate danger.

On that, the British newspaper criticized describing the attacks as “surgical” or a “precisely targeted anti-terrorist operation” by advocates and supporters of the Israeli occupation.

"The pager bombs were clearly intended to target individual civilians – diplomats and politicians – who were not directly participating in hostilities," The Guardian said, explaining that in legal terms, this would be called by lawyers as "excessive incidental civilian harm."

The newspaper also shed light on the Western double standards when addressing Israeli actions. It mentioned how Russia has been accused of committing alleged war crimes in Ukraine over the same actions "Israel" is committing. But, the author mockingly added, "It’s hard to say why the same reasoning is not applied to Israel – apart from that it is a Western ally."

The piece also warned against normalizing the "unprecedented" Israeli attacks, because "if that is the case, the door is opened for other states to lethally test the laws of war."

It added that US President Joe Biden shows "no sign of intervening to stop the bloodshed," referring to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the terrorist attacks in Lebanon, calling on Washington to "restrain its friend."

There is concern that Israeli attacks could lead to a full-scale war, drawing the US into it in the region.

The piece, also mockingly, said "perhaps" after the presidential elections, the US would be able to tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that "saving [his] skin should not be paid in the streets of Lebanon or by Palestinians in the occupied territories."

It also suggested that the US may only reconsider its stance after its presidential election, recognizing that protecting Prime Minister Netanyahu should not come at the expense of Lebanese civilians or Palestinians in the occupied territories.

"Until then, the rules-based international order will continue to be undermined by the very countries that created the system," The Guardian's editorial concluded.