Israeli President Isaac Herzog has made several comments on the alleged involvement of West Jerusalem in the mass detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon last week.
Herzog made the remarks while speaking to Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday, as the host grilled the president on the apparently indiscriminate nature of the attacks that killed at least 37, including two children, and injured some 3,000.
“I reject out of hand any connection to this or that source of operation,” Herzog stated.
Asked whether Israel denies involvement altogether or blames any other party for the attacks, the president refrained from doing so, while accusing Hezbollah of “destroying Lebanon” in the first place.
“I did not allude to anything except saying that there are many enemies of Hezbollah out there, quite a few these days. Hezbollah has been choking Lebanon, destroying Lebanon, creating havoc in Lebanon again and again and again. We are here simply to defend ourselves. That’s all we do,” he stated.
Israeli intelligence is widely suspected of having been behind the attacks, which have been roundly criticized globally.
UN human rights commissioner Volker Turk called the incident “shocking” and said that it had unleashed profound “fear and terror.”
“Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” he stated.