Several people have been killed and many more injured in fresh explosions of communication devices. This time, walkie talkies used by the Hezbollah militant group exploded, including near a funeral for some of the 12 people who were killed Tuesday [00:00:16] when thousands of pagers exploded. The Iran backed militant group had been using the devices in hopes of avoiding Israeli surveillance of their mobile phones. Security sources claim Israel is responsible for the sophisticated attacks that appeared to have been months in the making. [00:00:35] Well, you heard that right. There has now been a new round of explosions that has killed at least 20 people and injured at least 450. Just one day after thousands were injured by pager's exploding across Lebanon. [00:00:52] Now Israel has declined to say whether it was responsible. However, considering the fact that even American officials acknowledged that Israel is responsible for this and yesterday's attacks. It seems likely that Israel is actually behind this. [00:01:08] And so we're going to dive into that in just a moment. But Hezbollah is promising to take revenge. And this is an escalation. This is definitely the antithesis of moving toward a ceasefire agreement with Hamas as it pertains to the ongoing war in Gaza. [00:01:26] This is a bit of a disaster, because it could go in a direction that leads to a broader regional war that the United States would be dragged into. Now, before we get to some other disastrous developments, here's what we do know about today's attack. Rather than pagers, as you heard in the video earlier, [00:01:43] walkie talkies were detonated. Today, the walkie talkies are less widely used than the pagers that blew up on Tuesday, as they had only been distributed among people organizing crowds such as funerals and marches, the source said. [00:02:00] Now, Lebanese media said that some of the devices were branded as Icom, a company that actually sells radio communications, including at least one Icom V 82, which is a hand-held transmission transceiver. [00:02:17] That is pictured right here. So that's what it looks like. Lebanon's Red cross said that it had deployed 30 ambulances across the country in response to these walkie talkies exploding. Meanwhile, the country's civil defense force said teams were working to put [00:02:36] out fires inside homes, cars and shops that were ignited by the blast. So, as you can imagine, given the various areas in which these walkie talkies exploded, much like what happened with the pagers, it wasn't just Hezbollah militants [00:02:52] who were hurt by this or killed by this. Some of the fatalities included literal children, but Israel doesn't really care too much about that. So I'm just letting you guys know. I'm letting the people know that it wasn't just Hezbollah militants that were impacted by these explosions. [00:03:09] - Hey, don't scroll away. - Come back, come back. Because before the video continues, we just want to urge you to lend your support to tight U power. Our honest reporting. You do it at tight.com/team and we love you for it. Now, the Associated Press reported that its own journalists were actually [00:03:26] in Beirut at a funeral for four people killed yesterday by exploding pagers, including a child, including a child, when they heard multiple explosions at the site. So an Associated Press photographer in the city of Sidon also saw a car [00:03:46] and a mobile phone shop damaged after devices exploded inside of them. And a girl was hurt in the south when a solar energy system blew up, according to the state news agency. And as mentioned, this actually comes after yesterday's attack, [00:04:02] which now has a higher death toll from when we reported it yesterday. The current death toll from yesterday's attack is now 12 people as opposed to nine people. The explosions were hypothetically meant to target Hezbollah members. [00:04:18] But again, just want to reiterate, it wasn't just Hezbollah members who were, suffering the consequences of this attack. Hundreds of blasts went off wherever the holder of the pager happened to be in homes, cars, at grocery stores and in cafes, [00:04:34] often with family or bystanders nearby. Many of the casualties were not Hezbollah fighters, but members of the group's extensive civilian operations, mainly serving Lebanon's Shiite community. At least two health workers were among the victims. [00:04:53] So again, this is definitely an escalation. This is essentially Netanyahu's way of letting the United States know that they are not reining him in. He is not listening to them. He is uninterested in a cease fire agreement and is hell bent on continuing [00:05:10] these types of provocative attacks in sovereign countries in order to ensure that there will be a broader war in the Middle East, and he benefits from that. In his mind, he would benefit from that because he would no longer have to worry about having to step aside. [00:05:27] The people of Israel do not favor him. They do not like him. There have been mass protests against him. He doesn't want to face prosecution for the corruption charges that he's dealing with. And that's exactly what he'd have to deal with. If the war ends and he's no longer prime minister, he wants to stay in power, [00:05:46] and he's going to do whatever it takes to stay in power. And the most infuriating part about all of this is the current Democratic administration is enabling him to do what he's doing. There is no talk about using the weapons that we send to Israel, [00:06:03] the weapons we fund for Israel as leverage to rein Netanyahu in. So Netanyahu is going to keep doing what he's doing. So there's more. Let's get to, you know, the timing here, because we're also learning the reason for Israel's timing. Apparently, Israel launched the Tuesday pager attack after it believed [00:06:24] the capability had been discovered by Hezbollah, according to an Israeli source familiar with national security. The decision was made to explode them before word spread and everyone got rid of their pagers, the source said. It was a use it or lose it moment, the source added. [00:06:42] You know, super flippant, nonchalant attitude toward the possibility of civilian casualties. But are you really surprised? I mean, I'm certainly not surprised by any of this. So, after yesterday's attack, even a former Mossad member agreed [00:07:00] that this was a clear escalation of war on Israel's part. Let's take a look. Sima Shine is ex head of research at Mossad, - Israel's foreign intelligence agency. - It's a warning. It could be also, of course, if Israel did it, it has to take into account [00:07:17] that Hezbollah will retaliate. And we are escalating to a kind of a war. Short, long. I don't know, but a war. Well, Hezbollah is promising to retaliate. I mean, look, every response so far, especially from Iran, has been pretty [00:07:37] measured after, you know, Israel conducts, military operations in Iran, another sovereign country. I mean, Iran, they have the military capacity to cause real harm to Israel, but they have decided to be measured because it's very clear that they do not want a broader war. [00:07:54] They don't want a regional war. Netanyahu really has two options here. Option number one would be to agree to a cease fire deal. Hezbollah stops attacking Israel. The reason why Hezbollah is attacking Israel is because of what Israel is doing in Gaza. [00:08:10] But Netanyahu doesn't want a cease fire deal. He doesn't care for a cease fire deal. He has served as an obstacle to a cease fire deal, even when Hamas gave up the condition of a permanent cease fire and said, okay, fine, we'll agree to a temporary cease fire. Netanyahu moved the goalposts and said, now I don't agree to the cease fire. [00:08:30] I want to continue controlling the Philadelphia corridor. At that point, Hamas was out. So Netanyahu doesn't want a cease fire. That's clear. The other option is what he's doing right now, which is intentionally pushing [00:08:46] for a broader war. So let's get to what Hezbollah is saying they're going to do. In response to the recent attacks, Hezbollah said Wednesday that it would continue its military operations against Israel to support Gaza after the unprecedented attack on the grounds communications network [00:09:04] caused thousands of electric pagers to explode across the country. Hezbollah's attacks against Israel, which started in October in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza, were separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await [00:09:21] for its massacre on Tuesday. Hezbollah said in a statement today, Wednesday, this is another reckoning that will come, it added. Also, Israeli commanders said that troops near the Lebanese border were [00:09:36] at peak readiness, so that's reassuring. Speaking to Israeli troops, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the following quote we are at the start of a new phase in the war. It requires courage, determination and perseverance. [00:09:53] Now, what it requires is US weapons. And unfortunately, we have two separate dominant political parties that are all too willing to enable all of this. But I'll continue. He also made no mention of the explosions of electric devices, but praised the work [00:10:13] of Israel's army and security agencies, saying the results are very impressive. Now, how has the United States responded to this? Pathetically, as you might expect, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says that the U.S. Knew nothing about these attacks beforehand and expressed frustration [00:10:31] over the fact that Israel has done this. He hates the fact that things are being escalated. How could Israel do this? How could Israel escalate things? We really don't want a broader regional war, really, though, like, are people really going to believe that when it comes to Anthony Blinken, [00:10:48] like the guy who immediately traveled to the UK after Israeli snipers killed a U.S. Citizen in the West Bank and demanded that they lift any weapons, pauses for Israel like he wants to ensure Israel gets more weapons. [00:11:04] Okay, after they killed an American citizen in the West Bank. But no, no, no, he is very upset. He is very, very upset. Yesterday, after the first wave of major attacks, he spoke to reporters in Cairo, where he's participating in ceasefire negotiations. [00:11:21] Let's watch. Broadly speaking, we've been very clear, and we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we're trying to resolve [00:11:36] in Gaza, to see it spread to other fronts. It's clearly not in the interest of anyone involved to see that happen. And that's why, again, it's imperative that all parties refrain from any actions that could escalate the conflict. We're focused on getting this cease fire over the finish line. [00:11:54] Again, it's imperative that everyone avoid taking steps that could further escalate or spread the conflict. Yeah, none of that is true. I just want to be clear about that. Like, I'm not even entertaining the possibility that Anthony Blinken [00:12:10] is working tirelessly to secure a cease fire agreement. Okay. Obviously, what the US has been doing, has it been working? And it's because there are no real consequences for Israel's actions. So if the US is going to continue supplying the weapons, if the US is going [00:12:28] to bully other foreign countries, other sovereign countries to keep providing additional weapons to Israel, Israel is going to do what Israel wants to do. I mean, why would they act differently? It makes no sense at all. He also said that time and time again, when the US and other international [00:12:46] mediators believe themselves to be making progress in a cease fire. Deal. Deal for Israel's and Hamas's war in Gaza. We've seen an event that makes the progress more difficult. Might derail it. Yeah. So what are you gonna do about it? [00:13:02] Are you going to do the same thing you've been doing? And if the answer is yes, you don't actually want a ceasefire deal. You want to encourage the escalation that will lead to a broader war in the Middle East, which, by the way, I'm sure the military contractors and weapons manufacturers are real excited [00:13:22] about lots of profits to be made right on the backs of us taxpayers, of course. And don't worry. Luckily, it seems like Israeli officials are taking this whole situation that could lead to a massive regional war real seriously. [00:13:40] So what happened? Officially, we do not know. As you said, Hezbollah blamed Israel. I asked an Israeli official about that. The only response I got was an emoji of a shrugged shoulders. So that's what Israel is saying? Nothing. That is what our government is enabling everyone. [00:13:57] Okay. I mean, escalation of a broader war, which could lead to the U.S. Going to war with Iran, by the way, which would be a complete and utter disaster. You would need boots on the ground if that happens. We are squandering precious American resources in the form of U.S. [00:14:17] Taxpayer money on a country that is acting belligerently and killing civilians with impunity. And by the way, at the end, do you think this makes Israel safer? Israel is going to be right in the middle of this broader regional war. [00:14:35] I mean, will the Iron Dome withstand the attacks that Israeli civilians might have to be concerned about? Now, Netanyahu and the current Israeli government doesn't care about Israeli civilians. They certainly don't care about Palestinian civilians [00:14:51] or Lebanese civilians. All that government cares about right now, especially the head of that government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is power and behaving the way that they've been behaving. They're going to keep doing it. [00:15:06] And it is infuriating that it doesn't even matter if you have a Democrat in the executive branch or a Republican in the executive branch, because of the way our politics work, because of the fact that we have bribery baked into our political system [00:15:22] where, you know, interest groups representing foreign countries can literally legally bribe our politicians to do what we're seeing right now. That is that is why we have no choice, Democrat or Republican. We're going to have the same outcome no matter what. And that makes people feel incredibly powerless. [00:15:39] By the way, you think Israel doesn't know the Israeli government doesn't know that. That's how our political system works. The reason why they're behaving the way they're behaving is because they know they can with impunity. And that is going to be the case until we actually do something about the root of [00:15:55] the problem, which is money in politics, which is the impact of lobbying groups like AIPAC, for instance. So I feel terrified for the men and women in our armed forces, because if I were to make a prediction right now, [00:16:12] I would predict that there is a high likelihood that some of them will be shipped abroad to fight a war that they shouldn't be fighting, all because Netanyahu would rather escalate this rather than find diplomatic solutions to, you know, bring the temperature down and save human lives. [00:16:29] That's what we're dealing with. If you enjoy this video, that's because of our members. They make us independent. They make us strong, and they make us honest. Become a member today by hitting the join button below.