The pager attack that occurred Tuesday afternoon against Hezbollah members in Lebanon has shocked even Switzerland. Such a procedure is completely unprecedented in the history of war, especially in its scale: nearly 2,800 people were injured, 12 others have died to date, including a 10-year-old girl.
For State Councillor Baptiste Hurni (PS/NE): “In this conflict, on the substance, I am not taking a position for one side or the other. Here, the problem is that by trapping beepers, we know that we will hit civilians and that there will be collateral damage. This is clearly contrary to international law and the law of war which stipulates that targets must be military. And I would like to remind you that Lebanon is not a country at war.”
National Councilor Rorer Golay (MCG/GE) is more severe: “This is a terrorist operation in which a 10-year-old girl died. Trapping pagers in this way is a barbaric method and not an attack worthy of a state governed by the rule of law. From what I saw, the explosive charges were almost equivalent to grenades, which exploded in stores and public places. It’s like setting off a bomb in an airport. In any case, it will not give a good image of Israel.”
The Genevan, however, notes the logistical performance of this extraordinary operation. His colleague Fabien Fivaz (V/NE), member of the Security Policy Commission, agrees: “According to the latest information, it is the Mossad that is behind this operation. It is impressive to see that their agents managed to infiltrate a company, install a system in the devices and trigger it remotely.”
For him, this shows once again the specific security risks linked to new technologies, even if here “old beepers were used to avoid being tracked. But the Israelis are very strong in these technologies. We also owe them the Pegasus spy software manufactured at home.” (editor’s note: software installed remotely on a device, it can bypass all security systems and access files, messages, photos and passwords on smartphones.)
For Fabien Clivaz, this operation in Lebanon is one more episode in this “very dirty war” that is being played out in the Middle East. He hopes that the Confederation will get involved in organizing a second Bürgenstock summit. After the one organized for Ukraine last June, he would like to see Switzerland stepping forward: “Switzerland, the depositary of the Geneva Conventions, must constantly hammer home to the parties that the law of war must be respected.”
For the moment, the attack in Lebanon has not prompted a reaction from the Confederation.
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