How the Mossad manipulated the pagers

How the Mossad manipulated the pagers

“The bomb was in the breast pocket, right on the heart?”

It has long been a mystery as to how Israel managed the concerted pager attack against Hezbollah. Now two former agents tell us about the prepared plan.

When the first reports of a concerted action against members of the radical Islamic Hezbollah made the rounds on September 17th, it caused a stir not only in the Middle East. First, thousands of pagers exploded in the hands and pockets of the terrorists, then a day later, on September 18th, walkie-talkies exploded simultaneously throughout Lebanon, leaving numerous dead and seriously injured Hezbollah members.

It quickly became clear that the attack was one of the largest anti-terror operations in history. It could only be carried out by an intelligence agency whose personnel, strategic and logistical capacities are notorious: the Israeli Mossad.

It took a few more weeks before Israel’s foreign secret service claimed responsibility for the attacks. Now, around three months later, the Mossad has claimed responsibility for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran for the first time. At the same time, two former Mossad agents are speaking out on the American broadcaster CBS. On the show “60 Minutes” you tell in detail how the secret service managed to infiltrate Hezbollah and plant the manipulated pagers and walkie-talkies.

Accordingly, the service began preparing attacks on Hezbollah, which is hostile to Israel and supported by Iran, ten years earlier. According to the ex-agents, the Mossad’s goal was to meet as many members of the organization as possible.

However, since the walkie-talkies were primarily used by the fighters at the front, but were also intended to eliminate cadres and other Hezbollah members, the idea of ​​manipulated pagers came up. In order to sell the terrorist organization the deadly devices, the Mossad set up an entire network of front companies, middlemen and fake websites.

“We have an incredible wealth of opportunities to set up foreign companies that cannot be traced back to Israel,” says one of the agents, whom CBS only quotes under the code name “Michael.” “We have created an illusory world, like a global production company. We write the script, we are the directors, we are the producers, we are the main actors, and the world is our stage.”

According to the two secret service agents, this created a complete supply chain for the production, sale and distribution of the communication devices. “We made it look like the ‘Truman Show,'” said the other ex-Mossad agent with the alias “Gabriel” in the interview. “Everything was controlled by us behind the scenes.”

Accordingly, the development of pagers and radios prepared with explosives took a long time. The Mossad agents repeatedly tested the right amount of explosives to place in the casings. The point was that Hezbollah fighters should be injured or killed – but not their relatives or other civilians. Therefore, the devices had to be revised countless times. Finally, the Mossad development department came to the head of the operation with a prototype. However, he was beside himself because he thought the prepared pagers were too heavy and conspicuous. He feared that the terrorists wouldn’t buy him.

So the Mossad agents involved in the operation launched a complete PR campaign, including printed brochures, showrooms and promotional videos on YouTube. The pager was touted as an innovative model; the campaign’s slogan was: “Robust. Dust-proof. Waterproof – and with an extremely long battery life.”