Less than two hours before the pagers exploded across Lebanon, the Shin Bet allowed the publication of a report that it had thwarted a Hezbollah attack against former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon in Yarkon Park in September 2023. "This was supposed to give international legitimacy in the face of the accusations," sources said.
Even after more than 11 months of fighting in the north and launching thousands of rockets and hundreds of drones, Israel needed international legitimacy to allegedly carry out what is attributed to it in Lebanon. Thousands of Hezbollah operatives were injured and some were killed in two days of communication device explosions.
Less than two hours before the pagers exploded in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday afternoon, the Shin Bet disclosed that Hezbollah planned to assassinate former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon with an IED in Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv in September 2023. The Shin Bet lifted the gag order to supposedly justify retaliation against the terror organization and its affiliates. Since Hezbollah escalated its aggression, Israel has bolstered security around officials, embassies abroad and national symbols.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called the pager explosion attack a violation of human rights and called for those responsible to be prosecuted. Petra De Sutter, the deputy prime minister of Belgium, condemned Israel and said: "I strongly condemn the massive terror attack in Lebanon and Syria, which injured thousands of people. A brutal escalation of violence. Silence is not an option. An international investigation is called for. The bloodshed must end." Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the European Jewish Association(EJA), attacked her and said that calling the pager operation a terrorist attack is upside down and that she has completely lost her moral compass.
The possibility of expanding the campaign in the north is reflected in a series of senior officials' throughout this week. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting that "the existing situation in the north cannot continue. This requires a change in the balance of power on our northern border. We will do everything necessary to return our residents safely to their homes. I am committed to this, the government is committed to this and we will not settle for anything less."
On Monday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that a possible settlement in the north was fleeting, while Netanyahu was discussing Gallant's replacement with former Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar.
On the same day, Netanyahu met with Amos Hochstein, the American envoy for Lebanon and emphasized that it will be impossible to return our residents home without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north. The following night, almost a year after the fighting began which led to the mass evacuation of tens of thousands of residents, the government added a new goal to the war: the safe return of the citizens to their homes in the north. On the next day, Hezbollah's pagers began exploding in Lebanon.