Israel’s Netanyahu acknowledges pager attack, says he sees ‘eye-to-eye’ with Trump on Iran

By Eugenia Yosef, CNN

Israel has for the first time confirmed that it was behind the operation in September to detonate hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Israeli media on Sunday reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet: “The beeper operation and the elimination of (Hezbollah’s leader Hassan) Nasrallah were launched despite the opposition of senior officials in the security establishment and the political echelon in charge of them.”

An Israeli official confirmed those remarks to CNN – the first time Israel has acknowledged its role.

The decision by the government to brief Israel’s media on Netanyahu’s remarks – and by extension, confirm Israel was behind the operation – appears to be another chapter in the domestic political machinations that have dominated Israel in recent weeks.

Israeli media interpreted the phrasing as implicit criticism of Israel’s military leadership and intelligence establishment, as well as then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, whom Netanyahu fired on Tuesday.

The Israeli government is facing multiple criminal probes, including over allegedly leaking falsified intelligence reports to the international media.

The Prime Minister’s Office denies wrongdoing.

On September 17, thousands of explosions struck Hezbollah members, targeting their pagers and then walkie-talkies a day later. The blasts killed at least 37 people, including some children, and injured nearly 3,000, many of them civilian bystanders, according to Lebanese health authorities, many of them civilian bystanders.

The day after pagers began exploding across Lebanon, Gallant seemed to acknowledge his country’s role.

“The IDF brings excellent achievements, together with the Shin Bet, together with Mossad, all the bodies and all the frameworks and the results are very impressive results,” he said on September 18, during a visit to the Ramat-David Air Force base in northern Israel.

‘Very good’ talks with Trump

The acknowledgment of the pager attacks came as Netanyahu said he had spoken three times in recent days with US President-elect Donald Trump.

Speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting Sunday, Netanyahu said: “These were very good and very important conversations, aimed at strengthening the solid alliance between Israel and the United States.”

He added: “We see eye-to-eye on the Iranian threat in all its aspects and the danger it poses. We also see the great opportunities before Israel – in peace and expansion, and in other areas.”

People gather outside the American University of Beirut Medical Center after more than 1,000 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon on September 17, 2024.

Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

Netanyahu also referred to events in the Netherlands last week, when Israeli football fans were subjected to antisemitic abuse and violence.

“We will never allow the horrors of history to repeat. We will never surrender — to neither antisemitism nor terrorism,” Netanyahu said.

“A clear line connects the two recent antisemitic attacks against Israel on Dutch soil: the criminal legal attack on the State of Israel in the International Court of Justice (sic) in The Hague, and the violent criminal attack against Israeli citizens on the streets of Amsterdam,” Netanyahu said.

In May, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (not the ICJ) applied for arrest warrants against both Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, saying they bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Netanyahu added: “We will continue to defend our country and our citizens on all fronts, against every threat, with the Iranian threat at the forefront.”

On Sunday, Israel advised its citizens to avoid attending sports and cultural events involving Israelis outside of the country following the attacks in Amsterdam.

In a public advisory alert, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) warned of alleged calls to “harm Israelis and Jews, under the guise of protests and demonstrations, exploiting gathering events (such as sports and cultural events) to maximize harm and media exposure.”

The NSC suggested that these planned attacks could take place in Belgium, the United Kingdom, and France. It told Israelis to particularly avoid the upcoming France-Israel soccer match in Paris on Thursday.

Israelis have also been warned to stay away from protests and demonstrations and to “take extra care to conceal identifying Israeli/Jewish symbols.”