• Ibaudia@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Why would a diplomat have a direct line of communication with a powerful military force in the region? That seems like a pretty straightforward question with an obvious answer lol.

      • SeattleRain@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Don’t forget all those Hamas nurses and doctors. Totally not indiscriminate terrorism against civilians. Israel never does that!

        • Wade@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Hezbollah*

          I know it was probably an innocent mistake but people have been mixing these two up a lot recently

      • SeattleRain@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Enjoy losing the electronics handheld market to the Chinese as everyone gets paranoid about Western smartphones. Will you still be laughing when this hack inevitably leaks and is used to harm you or your family. I’m a computer hacker and it’s looking more and more like these were done by hacking the devices and detonating the battery. But hey, at least you got to do a completely militarily impotent terrorism against a group fighting a genocide.

        • VeganCheesecake
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          6 days ago

          All credible reporting I’ve seen is relatively certain that it was a small amount of military grade explosives.

          If you have the device in front of you, and are prepping it for your secret operation, that also seems like a much more straightforward solution than trying to manipulate a lithium ion battery in a way that both allows it to work normally for years, but then explode violently enough to kill someone holding it.

          • SeattleRain@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            Okay boomer. Computer security isn’t some underground scene anymore. It’s a huge industry. Saying your a computer hacker is like calling yourself an accountant now. So unbelievable!

            • leftytighty@slrpnk.net
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              6 days ago

              If I called myself an accountant then implied something that’s very implausible about accounting you’d be right to question it.

              These weren’t hacked battery overloads they were explosives.

        • fuckingkangaroos@lemm.ee
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          6 days ago

          I’m a computer hacker

          🤨

          it’s looking more and more like these were done by hacking the devices and detonating the battery.

          🤨🤨🤨🤨

          • nuke@sh.itjust.worksM
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            6 days ago

            I’m a computer hacker

            Careful. I heard about this guy on the news. Apparently he’s a famous hacker, goes by the name Four Chan.

          • SeattleRain@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            Very cute but there are reports of people analyzing the pagers and not finding any evidence of explosives. This is a developing story so maybe this will come to not but your incredulity doesn’t change these facts in the ground.

            • zanariyo@sh.itjust.works
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              6 days ago

              And if you were even a little familiar with lithium battery fires you’d know such reports don’t match up with the reports of exploding pagers killing people. So which is it?

              We’ve had numerous cases of phones catching on fire in people’s pockets and resulting in horrible burns throughout the years, but how many of these have killed people? A lithium battery is an incendiary device under the right circumstances, not an explosive one. And you need a bigger battery than one in a pager to cause enough damage in a short enough timeframe to kill a person before they can save themselves.

              Not to mention that it’s not a simple matter to make a lithium battery catch on fire remotely. What are they gonna do, try to draw more current than the battery can provide? That’s not going to make a battery catch on fire.

              • leftytighty@slrpnk.net
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                6 days ago

                Indeed, supposing they could use software to cause the battery to ignite is one thing (the most plausible part) but your other points are the crux of it.

                I’m a boomboom builder btw

                • evranch@lemmy.ca
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                  5 days ago

                  Without compromised hardware even igniting a battery is pretty implausible (unless the phone was on charge, and obviously these weren’t) as you’d need to basically short it out and this would be hard even with full bare metal access.

                  Pagers are famously hard to hack as well since all they do is display strings. And they aren’t on the public net, they don’t even have IP addresses as they communicate hub and spoke with a big slow RF transceiver.

                  Much more likely triggered by a message or long time fuse.

              • SeattleRain@lemmy.world
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                6 days ago

                Reports of batteries in the past exploding were unintentional. So if one were purposely causing the batteries to explode then it’s logical that you could make it a lot more potent.

                The idea that it was a hack is more prevalent outside the west. No doubt because western intelligence is trying to stop the story of any electronic made by them being a potential bomb under their control.

              • skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.deM
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                5 days ago

                depending on particular noises made by their favourite rumor mill, they might have heard that pagers contained 0, 1, 3, less than 20, or 30 to 60g of explosives. these might have been in battery or in extra (fake) element. nobody knows shit as of now

                taiwanese manufacturer denies involvement and directs to a hungarian subsidiary, but that hungarian subsidiary is only nameplate on a residential address. their pagers contain different chips and are overall different model compared to what taiwanese make and sell. it might be very well that israelis didn’t have to intercept shipping of pagers, because they made them and routed through a few cutouts, one in hungary, another in bulgaria. israelis have a policy of not telling anything and i haven’t seen anywhere internals of the alleged pagers. it will take some time until anything will be known with any certainty

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          The command might have been a hack but the physicality is just not something normal batteries are capable of producing.

        • AVincentInSpace@pawb.social
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          6 days ago

          Oh right! I keep forgetting that Israel is “the west” and Palestine is not despite being geographically on top of each other. Someday I’m gonna have to figure out where exactly this “west” is so I know not to go there.

        • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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          5 days ago

          Will you still be laughing when this hack inevitably leaks and is used to harm you or your family

          My family isn’t a part of any international crime syndicates. Feelin’ pretty fuckin’ safe despite your best efforts.

  • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
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    7 days ago

    Communication? Lebanon has a right to defend itself. It’s like questioning why Biden has a line to the Israel Prime Minister.

      • brian@programming.dev
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        6 days ago

        they’re not the government but they are a political party with 15 seats in the parliament.

              • Keeponstalin@lemmy.world
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                6 days ago

                Things are not that simple. Not all of Hezbollah are militants, there are many social workers and politicians

                Hezbollah organizes an extensive social development program and runs hospitals, news services, educational facilities, and encouragement of Nikah mut‘ah. Some of its established institutions are: Emdad committee for Islamic Charity, Hezbollah Central Press Office, Al Jarha Association, and Jihad Al Binaa Developmental Association. Jihad Al Binna’s Reconstruction Campaign is responsible for numerous economic and infrastructure development projects in Lebanon. Hezbollah has set up a Martyr’s Institute (Al-Shahid Social Association), which guarantees to provide living and education expenses for the families of fighters who die in battle.

                Hezbollah holds 14 of the 128 seats in the Parliament of Lebanon and is a member of the Resistance and Development Bloc. According to Daniel L. Byman, it is “the most powerful single political movement in Lebanon.” Hezbollah, along with the Amal Movement, represents most of Lebanese Shi’a.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            There are more of them that do than there are that don’t. A militia wing is very common outside the western world.

            • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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              5 days ago

              Really? What happens if they get a plurality or even a majority, would there be a significant risk of a coup?

              Generally speaking, you don’t want to mix your militias and political parties.

              • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                5 days ago

                In some places yes. In others they’re already more concerned with an ongoing conflict. There are some that just organize their military that way and wouldn’t think of it. Heck that’s the original way of organizing a military.

        • TheFonz@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Haha no. Take some time and read up maybe? All the info is available. Heck, maybe hop on a call and talk to some people in Lebanon? Anything. Just stop repeating nonsense.

          • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
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            6 days ago

            All the info is available.

            But it ISN’T. The US mainstream media constantly lies and the US pushes propaganda all around the world. We’ve been fed disinformation for decades not just since Trump. So I can’t just read up on them without a deep dive in trying to first find neutral sources and read and then evaluate them. If you just read the standard version about them your perception is going to be warped. Like I said, they have bad PR, which really means prevailing propaganda brands them as evil.

            I don’t like their religious views either but fundamentally they are guys in a militia fighting against foreign invaders and threats to their country.

            • TheFonz@lemmy.world
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              6 days ago

              fundamentally they are guys in a militia fighting against foreign invaders and threats to their country

              Why do you think this?

    • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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      7 days ago

      Why should the US president be in regular contact with the perpetrator of an ongoing genocide?

      Almost makes you think the US supports continued Israeli apartheid.

      • TheFonz@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        You’re asking why the US formed an ally 75 years ago with the only stable democracy in the middle east and has a continued interest in maintaining stability in the region?

        Of course not, you can only operate in sound bytes, buzzwords and catchphrases.

        • sazey@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          “only stable democracy” haha that old chestnut, you are deluded if you are ignoring the number of actual democracies in the ME that USA has helped topple or marginalised.

          • TheFonz@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            Haha let’s talk about 75 years of ME geopolitics using buzzwords and catchphrases. Haha.

              • TheFonz@lemmy.world
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                6 days ago

                If someone starts a conversation in buzzwords and catchphrases I will respond in kind. You don’t like it? Feel free to start another thread that doesn’t use catchphrase as the foundation and starting point for a conversation on me politics.

                You guys want to have your cake and eat it. Pick one. Have a nuanced discussion about me politics or throw memes around. Don’t shit yourself because you don’t like what you see in the mirror.

                It’s me. We can smear our feces together.

        • MetaCubed@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Mind telling me how Israel is a table democracy? Or how they create stability? Maybe you can tell me why the middle east is a destabilized region to begin with?

          • TheFonz@lemmy.world
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            5 days ago

            I do mind telling you because I know I won’t get an informed discussion out of this thread. You want to talk ME politics? Start a new thread with specifics and let’s go over it. I’m not expending energy replying to buzz phrases with detailed responses. I’ve played this game and it sucks spending time and energy discussing something only to get back.

            “lmao. Genocide Joe amirite?”

            People use lazy catchphrases to describe me politics: I respond with more lazy catchphrases.

              • TheFonz@lemmy.world
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                5 days ago

                Mind telling me how Israel is a table democracy? Or how they create stability? Maybe you can tell me why the middle east is a destabilized region to begin with?

                You’re asking a rhetorical question in the hopes of getting a gotcha. Because, again, all you guys do is swim in catchphrases and vibes. Your primary goal here is not to deepen any kind of understanding. If you did, you would be a lot more honest in your questions. You’d open up with a clear argument, based on specifics, with dates, people, events etc.

                No one is obligated to give you an essay on the last 75 years of ME geopolitics if all you do is start is with catchphrases and gotchas.

                You want a nuanced discussion that delves into the specifics of the geopolitics of the region? Start a thread that’s not just diluted meaningless sentences, such as this nugget:

                Why should the US president be in regular contact with the perpetrator of an ongoing genocide?

                It’s hopeless, because you guys will bounce back and forth between one catchphrase or buzz sentence without opening a book, or a wikipedia page, or an article, or anything. And you want us to come here and write essays to explain or refute these meaningless sentiments. It’s all vibes. You start threads with vibes, you get vibes.

                • MetaCubed@lemmy.world
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                  5 days ago

                  To be clear, that wasnt me you just responded to, but I was the one who asked you the questions. You seem to be making a lot of bad faith assumptions about my intent with those questions.

                  You’re asking a rhetorical question in the hopes of getting a gotcha.

                  Well, it is rhetorically framed, but I was trying to see if you and I are both working with frameworks built on reality.

                  Your primary goal here is not to deepen any kind of understanding.

                  Again, ouch. The tone of the questions may have come across that way, but my intent is never to “gotcha”… You’ll just have to take my word for it obviously.

                  If you did, you would be a lot more honest in your questions. You’d open up with a clear argument, based on specifics, with dates, people, events etc.

                  This is a forum on internet, not debate club. Like I said above, I’m sorry if my questions came across as being bad faith, but I’m not obligated to serve you a rhetorically perfect and fallacy-free set of questions, just as you are not obligated to engage with my questions if you feel they’re trying to uh… “Gotcha”

                  If you did, you would be a lot more honest in your questions. You’d open up with a clear argument, based on specifics, with dates, people, events etc.

                  I’m not totally sure how I’m responding with catch phrases. Honestly, if nothing else I’d love for you to clarify this

                  You want a nuanced discussion that delves into the specifics of the geopolitics of the region? Start a thread that’s not just diluted meaningless sentences, such as this nugget:

                  Why should the US president be in regular contact with the perpetrator of an ongoing genocide?

                  I’m sorry, I’m not being intentionally obtuse, but I can’t tell if you’re using the above as an example of a “diluted meaningless sentence” or whether it’s meant to be a good question.

                  Ultimately, I don’t feel I was acting in bad faith considering I was trying to evaluate your framework. If you feel it was done poorly, that’s okay, you dont need to respond.

                  Also:

                  Who are “you guys”?

        • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Whilst the first part of your point is correct IMHO, for the rest Israel has been the very opposite of a force for stability in the region and the non-conditionality of the US’ help has emboldened successive Israeli governments to behave worse and worse thus making the region less stable (one of their main concerns seems to be to stop nations around them from having stable democratic governments) rather than more.

          I would say that ACAB and a bunch of very rich Americans with Fascist tendencies who happen to be Jewish and love the ethno-Fascism which is Zionism having bought American Politics (basically doing what Russia wanted to do and, unlike Russia, actually succeeding) is a far better explanation for continued American support of Israel, a theory that much better explains the unconditionality of the American support for Israel than the idea that it’s because of wanting stability in the Middle East.

          Absolutelly, American support makes geostrategical sense up to a point. It’s just that we’re well beyond that point and the American support in its current form (weapon shipments, blocking UN resolutions condemning the genocide) doesn’t make sense for geostrategical reasons (both in terms of stability in the Middle East and because it also damages the perception of America all over the World), so it must be something else driving it.

        • gandalf_der_12te
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          6 days ago

          Apart with all the buzzwords; Current US politics for Israel is making US look bad on an international stage. There’s no point in behaving that way.

    • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      Pagers were precursors to cell phones, there’s a little screen and it buzzes but the primary purpose is just to tell you to call someone.

      Hezbollah is a political party / paramilitary group in Lebanon, aligned with Iran against Israel. And Lebanon shares a border with Israel so a famously fraught relationship there and it has only gotten worse since October. They use pagers because the Israeli intelligence agency is notoriously good and they would likely hack any cell phone.

      Speaking of which, Israeli intelligence planted bombs in pagers sold to Hezbollah by a 3rd party over the last 2 years, and recently detonated the bombs, killing or wounding many members of Hezbollah. Also an Iranian ambassador.

  • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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    5 days ago

    You can ask “him” but you’d have to repeat the question to each of his ears (which are several meters apart).