24 Sep EXPLODING PAGERS, EXPLODING MEMES

If you submitted the script
to Hollywood, it would be
rejected for being too
outrageous and
unbelievable. If you
proposed it as a plan, it
would likely be dismissed
for being too high risk,
with too many things that

could go wrong.
And yet, in a bold, brave and brazen scheme,
Israel spent years planting more than 5,000
pagers that were distributed to Hezbollah leaders
and that were capable of being remotely
detonated. One day last week, the pagers
exploded. The next day, more electronic devices
detonated in Hezbollah hands in a second wave
of the genius targeted attack. By the third day,
when the wicked terrorists had no choice but to
abandon technology altogether, Israel eliminated
20 commanders who were meeting in person to
plan an October 7-style infiltration and attack
from the north.
How did they pull it off? We likely will never
fully know but what we do know is that a
Hungarian shell company was formed that
signed an agreement with a Taiwanese
manufacturer. The pagers were new, a brand that
the group had not used before. They were
brought into the country about five months ago.
This operation that interfered with the supply
chain and introduced very small explosive
devices built into the pagers prior to their

delivery to Hezbollah, and then remotely
triggered them simultaneously, is nothing short
of a miracle for which we must be incredibly
grateful. We are thankful to the young woman
who allegedly introduced the scheme, the
leadership who green-lighted it, the operatives
who carried it out, and most of all the Almighty
whose providence pulled it off.
Not surprisingly, the usual cast of Israel haters
and antisemites, instead of praising the targeted
operation that was specifically designed to target
and eliminate evil terrorists while sparing
civilians, criticized and condemned Israel, with
some going so far as to label the operation
terrorism.
United Nations Secretary-General António
Guterres said he was “deeply alarmed” by the
beeper attack. UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Volker Turk, said the attack
“violates international human rights law.”
Having been silent about Hezbollah’s 8,500
rockets fired at civilians in Israel in the last 11
months that took the lives of dozens of Jews and
non-Jews alike, Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez commented, “This attack clearly
and unequivocally violates international
humanitarian law and undermines US efforts to
prevent a wider conflict. Congress needs a full
accounting of the attack, including an answer
from the State Department as to whether any US
assistance went into the development or
deployment of this technology.” The New York
Times published an opinion piece titled, “Israel’s

Pager Bombs Have No Place in a Just War,” with
the author, Michael Walzer, calling the operation
“likely war crimes” “terrorist attacks.”
Like Hamas, Hezbollah has long harbored
genocidal intentions to annihilate Israel and kill
Jews around the world, intentions they act on
constantly. The devices that exploded were not
sold at retail stores—they were specifically
deployed to communicate regarding terror
activities and they were carried by terrorists who
were dedicated to perpetrating them. There is
nothing more moral than defending your country
and the innocent men, women, and children who
rely on you.
Instead of condemning or criticizing Israel,
AOC and all Americans should be expressing
gratitude and praise for eliminating Ibrahim
Aqil, wanted by the United States for decades
for his role in the devastating 1983 attacks at the
U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks. America
had been trying to get him for 41 years and had a
$7 million bounty on his head.
As I followed the story of Hezbollah’s devices,
and the technology they paid for blowing up in
their faces, I shared in the gratitude, admiration,
glee and hope that we are one step closer to
eliminating this enemy for good.
As quickly as the pagers blew up, the funny
memes, gifs, and jokes were exploding all over
the internet, in WhatsApp groups, and on social
media. The creativity and wittiness made me
smile and sometimes even laugh. But as the
jokes went increasingly viral, in addition to the
smile, they made me concerned because they
weren’t only drawing the attention of Israel’s
friends, they were attracting the focus and
comments of our enemies.
Make no mistake – we can be and must be
absolutely grateful and even celebrate the
defeat and demise of enemies who seek to
destroy us. However, in the modern world
where things spread far and wide with
unprecedented ease, I believe we need to be
thoughtful and intentional with where, and
when, and how we “celebrate.” These
questions concern me not because I hesitate to
be glad and even gleeful over the elimination
of evil people. Shlomo HaMelech teaches in
Mishlei 24:17, “When your enemy falls, do
not rejoice,” but as Rav Aviner writes, “there
are enemies, and there are Enemies.” The
Talmud (Megillah 16a) teaches that when
Mordechai was led around on a horse by
Haman, Haman challenged, “Doesn’t your
Torah instruct that you are not supposed
rejoice in your enemies fall.” to which
Mordechai responded: “This does not refer to
you.” Today’s enemies are no better than
Haman and worthy of the same celebration
when they are taken down.
There is a well-known Gemara (Sanhedrin
39b) that describes how when the angels
wanted to sing and join with the Jewish
people’s celebration after the Splitting of the
Sea, the Almighty rebuked them saying, “My
handiwork is downing and you are singing a
song before me?” The Angels were silenced,
yet the Almighty allowed and welcomed the
Jewish people raising their voices in song. Do
we not strive to be like angels? Why was it ok
for us to sing?

The Piazetna Rebbe, R’ Kalman Kalonymous
Shapira Hy’D, wrote during the Holocaust:
“Was an angel ever hit? Was an angel ever
murdered? Was an angel ever humiliated? We
were! The angels did no suffer as we did in
Egypt, so they could not sing. But we did suffer
– suffered immensely – and therefore, during the
the Exodus from Egypt, ‘Moshe sang.’”
And so yes, when learning of news of the
destruction of Hezbollah terrorists, prayers of
gratitude and appreciation in the community are
appropriate and warranted. A l’chaim among
friends and family to mark the miracle of the
courageous pager attack and for each evil that is
eliminated is reasonable. (The same is true of
the beautiful videos of singing and dancing that
took place in several Israeli yeshivas, which
were expressions of gratitude to Hashem and joy
in His salvation.) And there is nothing wrong
with sharing memes or jokes among ourselves,
even if they are irreverent and humorous.
However, I think all would agree handing out
candies at the local mall to celebrate would be a
mistake and inappropriate. They could and
would easily be perceived (and gleefully covered
by the media) as Jews celebrating and glorifying
death, as being no different than our enemies.
Where do the internet and social media fit in?
Are they a more public extension of our private
community or WhatsApp group, or is it the
equivalent of publicly displaying memes and
gifs at the local mall or town square?
Some are hesitant to gloat because they are
uncomfortable with the Jewish state being in the
role of aggressor, the mighty, strong, and capable
independent nation standing up for themselves.
This kind of thinking is just wrong and an
entirely illegitimate reason on which to base our
behvaior. But, it has been suggested that
spreading funny and embarrassing memes and
gifs should be considered part of the online war
effort, publicly humiliating our enemies.
Perhaps. Others feel that the world will never
love us or be fair to us and so who cares what
they will think. There is merit to that. Still others
feel the messaging and impression we leave in
public matters and we should be thoughtful and
strategic what, how and where we post and
share. There is definitely merit to that.
This, like most questions about the war (among
many other things) is nuanced, multifaceted, and
complicated. There are different reasonable
conclusions. What I hope we can all agree on is
that we shouldn’t simply react and act mindlessly
and get swept up in what is spreading around us.
If we are choosing to post, to share, to comment
publicly, it should be done mindfully and
thoughtfully. The stakes are too high, the
implications to great to be carried by momentum
or by the forces of external actors.
Please G-d, we will have many, many, more
chances in the very near future to react to the
destruction and elimination of our enemies.
Let’s be as strategic, thoughtful and judicious in
how we fight online as the fight is happening
offline.