Is Your Smartphone a Hidden Bomb?
It’s no exaggeration to say we inhabit an era of unspeakable violence — violence that, as we’ve recently witnessed, can strike not with a deafening explosion but with a subtle vibration. What should we make of this latest chapter in global warfare, where pagers, walkie-talkies, and other mundane objects of communication transform into lethal devices, detonating without warning?
Such events unfolded in Lebanon on September 17, when thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded in a near-simultaneous assault, killing 12 people, including two children, and injuring almost 3,000 more. The very next day, the horror continued as additional communication devices burst apart, claiming 14 more lives and sending shockwaves of terror across a region all too familiar with violence.
Israel, though officially silent, is widely assumed to be the orchestrator behind these chillingly precise strikes — a technological feat both staggering and grotesque in its ingenuity.
Yet, does this really surprise us? Can we feign shock at such an escalation, as if it lies beyond the scope of modern warfare? Israel, while maintaining official silence, has all but been confirmed as the architect of these attacks.
