Mossad Gets an Award for its ‘Exploding Pagers’

Remember the “exploding pagers” that on September 17, 2024 all went off in the hands, or in the pockets, of members of Hezbollah, resulting in the killing of several dozen of its operatives and more importantly, in the severe wounding — of 3800 Hezbollah fighters, who lost eyes, hands, ears, arms, legs, and much more. This spectacular Mossad operation has just been recognized with an award by Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies. Mossad Director David Barnea accepted the award on behalf of the agency. At the award ceremony, he revealed more about the “Pagers Operation,” that can be found here: “Mossad director says beeper operation ‘broke’ Hezbollah, reveals new details,” Jerusalem Post, February 25, 2025:

Mossad Director David Barnea was honored by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) on Tuesday on behalf of the Mossad for their beeper operation targeting Hezbollah terrorists in September.

Following his acceptance of the award on behalf of the organization, Barnea spoke to the crowd.

Director of the Mossad, David Barnea, addressed the “Pagers Operation” at the INSS Annual Conference, during which the pagers of thousands of Hezbollah operatives exploded. He revealed: “The operation reflects intelligence penetration and a deep understanding of the enemy,… pic.twitter.com/tGF7JrqfCS

— INSS (@INSSIsrael) February 25, 2025

What “deep understanding” of the enemy did Mossad require? Did Hezbollah use pagers at all, instead of other forms of communication? Did it distribute those pagers just to the upper echelons, or were those at a lower levels also supplied with such devices. Where would they have placed the pagers — in their pants pockets, flak jacket pockets, in knapsacks?

Mossad agents told Lesley Stahl on “60 Minutes” that they looked at several options for the pager’s ringtones. They wanted to find a sound that would compel the owner of the device to take it out of his pocket. The intelligence agency also looked at how long it took a person to answer a pager, finding it to be an average of seven seconds. So they programmed the pagers to go off exactly seven seconds after the ringtone.

“The beeper operation is a clear example of the realization of our mission. It was planned by Mossad employees creatively, using sophistication and cunning.”

“It showed intelligence, penetration, and a deep understanding of the adversary, technological superiority, and first-rate operational capabilities.”

Barnea added that “the operation symbolizes the turning point in the war in the north and the starting point for the ten days during which the tide turned against our enemies. A clear line can be drawn in the war in the north – from the beepers to the elimination of Nasrallah to the ceasefire.”

The exploding pagers, and the day after, the exploding walkie-talkies, did not kill thousands of Hezbollah operatives. From the pagers alone, about 40 of them were immediately killed, and 3,800 were wounded, many of them severely, with eyes and hands and legs blown off.

A question of timing for Mossad to figure out: not just how long it takes the average person to answer a pager, but how long it took for Mossad to have assured itself that it had prepared enough of the pagers, and made them available on the market at a price low enough to be affordable, but not so low as to arouse suspicion. Mossad held the pagers back, and waited until ten times — a total of 5000 — as many pagers had been prepared, and at that point, it was showtime.

Many believe that in the war against Hezbollah, the exploding pagers played a critical role. The nearly 4000 Hezbollah operatives who are now walking around in southern Lebanon and southern Beirut, missing eyes, or hands, or ears, or legs, or are slumped over in wheelchairs, unable to talk, are evidence for all to see of Israeli prowess and Hezbollah weakness. The Mossad’s David Barnea believes that the “exploding pagers” effect was far greater than the numbers of casualties would suggest. It was, he says, “the turning point in the war.”caused Hezbollah’s morale to collapse, almost completely, on September 17, 2024. And ten days after the “exploding pagers,” the death of Hassan Nasrallah, buried under the rubble of Hezbollah headquarters in Dahieh, Beirut, destroyed whatever glimmer of hope Hezbollah still had. For the Lebanese terror group, It has been downhill all the way, ever since.