More and more experts now seem to be ruling out the possibility of the pager explosions that killed at least 12 people and wounded nearly 3000 Hezbollah militants and sympathizers on September 17 as an act of cyber-attacks. They are more inclined to support the theory that the blasts were an Israeli operation by hiding explosive material within a new batch of about 5000 Taiwanese-made pagers that were “smuggled” into Lebanon by the Iran-backed extremist outfit.
As per the latest reports, scores of fresh explosions are being reported across Lebanon, 24 hours after over 4000 pagers exploded. Fresh explosions are now taking place in hand-held Walkie-Talkie VHF sets used by Hezbollah terrorists. According to reports, the death toll from walkie-talkie explosions has risen to at least 9.
If this narrative is “true,” notwithstanding Israel’s total silence as of now, then this gruesome episode involves two other countries – Taiwan, where the pagers are generally made, and Hungary, from where the pagers were procured by Hezbollah.
In all probability, Taiwan and Hungary are not directly involved, but such a perception cannot be easily dispelled given the growing support for Israel in recent years in both nations.
It could be argued that the Israeli intelligence must have found it easier to sabotage the pagers, inserting a small amount of explosives (allegedly three grams of explosives per page) and a detonator in them before they landed in Lebanon.
These pagers are apparently produced by a Taiwanese company called Gold Apollo. According to the company, most of these low-tech wireless communication devices are sold in North America and Australia.
Taiwanese officials have said that they do not have any record of Gold Apollo pagers being shipped to Lebanon or the Middle East. Obviously, these have been smuggled out.
Gold Apollo’s founder and chairperson, Hsu Ching-Kuang, told reporters on September 17 that his company did not produce the AR924 model pagers used in Lebanon. However, he clarified that these were made by a European distributor, Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT, which had established a “relationship” with Gold Apollo about three years ago.
Under this relationship, Gold Apollo allowed the BAC to sell its own products using the Gold Apollo label. In return, Gold Apollo received a share of the profits and opened an office in Taipei, Hsu revealed.
The Gold Apollo founder was unapologetic about his long-standing relationship with BAC before they struck the brand licensing deal.
The only thing he recalled was one “odd” incident with BAC when a local Taiwanese bank delayed a bank transfer from the company because the local bank had suspicions about it. Hsu said the transfer might have come from a bank in the Middle East, though he did not reveal the name of the country where the bank was located.
Incidentally, the Taiwanese government appears to fully support the Gold Apollo despite the attacks on Hezbollah. Taiwan’s economy ministry has said it will continue to assist the pager manufacturer, as it has denied any export to Lebanon.
This firm support could be seen in the overall context of Taiwan’s steadfast support to Israel ever since the country was attacked by Hamas last October.
While Israel, like much of the rest of the world, follows the “One China” policy and doesn’t officially recognize Taiwan, there has been a shift since October 7. Like the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war seems to have served as a wake-up call for Taiwan. Taipei’s policy is becoming more and more reactive to what China is doing. Accordingly, Taiwan has become more active in reaching out to Israel.
Incidentally, before the Hamas attack, Israel was very cautious in its dealings with Taiwan. During his visit to Beijing in March 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his country’s relationship with China “a marriage made in heaven.” All told, China happened to be Israel’s third largest trading partner, and Chinese investors, facing a lagging domestic economy, were pursuing investment opportunities abroad.
However, the post-Hamas attack and the Israeli retaliation seem to have changed China’s geopolitical calculations in the Middle East. Encouraged by its new reputation as a peace broker between Iran and Saudi Arabia, China has been projecting itself as an alternative to the U.S.-led international order.
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It has published a peace plan, hosted reconciliation talks between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and held summits with Arab and Muslim foreign ministers aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas fighting.
None of these efforts may have borne fruit, but these are perceived well in Arab and Global South capitals. All the more so when China has repeatedly been criticizing the United States for blocking United Nations resolutions for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Predictably, all this has disappointed many Israelis. About a third of Israeli Jews have reported a negative change in their perception of China since Oct. 7, and some private sector leaders have called for exacting financial consequences, such as temporarily prohibiting Chinese companies from operating in Israel’s ports.
The Netanyahu regime has not only communicated its “deep disappointment” to PRC officials but also sent two cross-party delegations to Taiwan in the last year—the last one was sent in April. Bilateral relations are becoming warmer with growing trade and cooperation in the fields of education, culture, and technology.
Of late, the Taiwanese government has been showing unwavering support for Israel through official statements. Taiwan’s military has decided to learn from Israel’s experience in areas such as reserve training, missile defense, intelligence gathering, UAVs, and civil resilience.
It may be noted that following the assault by Hamas on Israel, Taipei has donated more than half a million dollars to Israel to help soldiers and their families and to fund municipal services.
Of course, it has also announced a similar donation to help supply Palestinians in Gaza with food, clean water, clothing, and tents. However, Taiwan’s public media outlets, like Taiwan-Plus, continuously pushes stories on how the Taiwanese public sympathizes with Israel over Palestine.
Hungary’s Support For Israel
Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán’s support for Netanyahu has been steadfast, indeed. Budapest considers supporting Israel to be “essential for its security.”
Hungary supports the US administration’s “Vision for Peace” peace plan. The plan provides a realistic chance of finally bringing peace, security, and development to the Middle East.
This is also indicated by the normalization process that took place in 2020 between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. Nothing shows Hungary’s support better than the fact that only Hungary took part on a ministerial level among European countries at the signing ceremony of the peace agreement in Washington.
In recent years, Hungary claims to have consistently advocated a balanced approach towards Israel in various international forums. However, Hungary does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in Israel and does not support the Court’s investigation into Israel.
Budapest demands greater transparency with regard to EU-funded NGOs: “Our aim is to prevent European taxpayers’ money from reaching organizations linked to terrorism that are calling for a boycott of Israel. Hungary does not support any measure that could be interpreted as a sanction or boycott against Israel. Accordingly, we do not apply EU labeling rules for products coming from outside Israel’s internationally recognized borders. In addition, Hungary does not support politically motivated anti-Israel resolutions submitted to the UN or its bodies”.
Incidentally, the Presidency of the European Union for the year 2024 is occupied by Hungary.
It is also noteworthy that Orbán and Netanyahu have a long-standing relationship. Both have headed the governments of their respective countries periodically since the 1990s. Orbán has always been said to have been impressed by Netanyahu’s vision of how a small country like Israel could be turned into a strong nation-state.
Both have had one thing in common in their political careers and thus in the fate of Fidesz and Likud (their respective parties): they both have tried to stand up against strong left-wing headwinds and led their parties to victory most of the time.
Incidentally, their common enemy happens to be American billionaire George Soros. If Netanyahu is convinced that Soros’ money through his network of NGOs is indirectly going to Palestinian organizations that seek the destruction of Israel, Orbán accuses him of being anti-Semitic in his central European country, where Jews are in considerable numbers.
In fact, it is said that during the 2018 Hungarian election campaign, an Israeli private intelligence firm had played a role in discrediting Orbán’s political opponent by “exposing” his links with an NGO linked to Soros.
If one views all the things mentioned above, it is but natural to find an Israeli angle to the Hezbollah exploding pager trail that runs from Taiwan to Hungary.
- Author and veteran journalist Prakash Nanda has been commenting on Indian politics, foreign policy, and strategic affairs for nearly three decades. A former National Fellow of the Indian Council for Historical Research and recipient of the Seoul Peace Prize Scholarship, he is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. He has been a Visiting Professor at Yonsei University (Seoul) and FMSH (Paris).
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