The Green Party’s spokesperson for defence and disarmament says the pager attack on Hezbollah shows Israel is continuing to ramp up tensions in the region.
The coordinated explosion of communications devices carried by members of the Lebanese Shiite group killed at least 12 people and injured thousands more, and was followed by a wave of explosions of walkie-talkies and solar power equipment.
Booby-trapping objects used by civilians is banned under international law.
Teanau Tuiono says civilian and medical staff as well as people nearby were caught in the blasts, as Hezbollah runs extensive health and welfare operations servicing the Shiite population.
“Israel is the aggressor. They’ve been aggressive in that region for decades, since its inception, and where is this technology coming from? How is it that people can have their pagers and walkie-talkies explode? It’s something from a very bad spy movie so it concerns me this technology is being used in this way to harm people. it’s taking it to another level,” he says.
Mr Tuiono says Western nations should be calling out Israel and its enabler, the United States.
