Did Mossad Rig Hezbollah’s Communication Devices in Taiwan?

The Taiwanese company Gold Apollo denies manufacturing rigged pagers and accuses a Hungarian company.

19th September 2024

3 minutes read

Did Mossad Rig Hezbollah's Communication Devices in Taiwan?

The New York Times reported that the wireless pagers that exploded simultaneously in the hands of Hezbollah members on Tuesday, injuring around three thousand people and killing at least nine, came from Taiwan and were rigged by Israel before arriving in Lebanon. The Taiwanese company Gold Apollo denied on Wednesday that the devices were manufactured by them, accusing a Hungarian company instead.

At least nine people were killed and about 2,800 others were injured, including the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, when the wireless pagers exploded across Lebanon in an unprecedented attack for which the Lebanese government and Hezbollah blamed Israel. Israel, on its part, has made no comment on the incident in Lebanon.

In the United States, the New York Times cited unnamed American officials “and others” who stated that the wireless pagers that exploded were manufactured by the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo. The newspaper added that Israel tampered with these devices before their arrival in Lebanon by planting a small amount of explosives inside each one.

A source close to Hezbollah, who requested anonymity, said earlier on Tuesday that the devices that exploded “arrived via a shipment recently imported by Hezbollah, containing about a thousand devices,” and that they appeared to have been “compromised at the source.”

However, the New York Times reported that the order received by Gold Apollo included around three thousand devices, most of which were of the AR 924 model.

Gold Apollo President Hsu Chin-Kuang told reporters in Taipei: “These are not our products, from start to finish.” He added that P.A.C. Consulting, based in Budapest, was licensed to use its brand and manufactured the model of wireless communication devices (pagers) used in the explosions. “Regarding the AR-924 pager model mentioned in recent media reports, we clarify that this model is produced and sold by P.A.C.,” he said.

According to Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad, the explosions resulted in “the death of nine people, including a young girl.”

Hezbollah announced in a statement on Wednesday that the group’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah would deliver a speech on Thursday at 5 PM.

Military and security analyst Elia Manyeh, based in Brussels, said that for Israel to have inserted an explosive trigger into the new shipment of communication devices, it likely needed access to the supply chain of these devices. The analyst suggested that Israeli intelligence had likely infiltrated the production process to add an explosive component and a remote trigger without raising suspicion.

This raises the possibility that the third party selling these devices was “an intelligence front” set up by Israel for this purpose.

On Tuesday evening, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant held a security assessment with Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and military officials in response to the security tensions with Lebanon following the explosion of the communication devices. The Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported that this assessment was conducted to prepare for all possible scenarios. Israel remains on high alert, anticipating Hezbollah’s potential response to the pager explosions.

The website Walla reported that an Israeli source “familiar with the details” said that the explosion of the pagers was approved at the beginning of the week as part of a series of security consultations held by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with senior ministers and heads of the security and intelligence services.