Israel’s invasion of Gaza is about to complete a year, during which the systematic massacre of civilians by the Israeli army continues, but no country and international organization is ready to hold Israel accountable or halt its aggression. Instead, Israel has been given an open waiver to violate all international laws, the result of which is that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad has initiated to execute offensive terror operations in Iran and Lebanon. Israel first killed the head of Hamas in Iran by a missile and has now detonated thousands of pagers in Lebanon. After Gaza, Lebanon is also bleeding and the world powers are silent spectators, neither restraining nor abandoning their support for Israel.

Israel has been playing the role of a terrorist state since its inception and so far 41000 Palestinians have been martyred in Israeli brutality. Because the United States and other western countries are backing it, Israel is running wild like an unbridled horse and no one is putting any reins on it. That is why Israel’s terrorist activities are gradually increasing. This apartheid state has illegally occupied the Palestinian territories on the one hand and on the other hand, it has been committing genocide against Palestinians for several decades, but human rights champions and activists around the world have turned a blind eye to the biggest massacre of the 21st century. If anyone speaks out against it, they are doing so hypocritically. On the one side, they all condemn Israel’s actions while simultaneously granting it the right to self-defense. Because of this hypocritical attitude, Israel is becoming more and more aggressive in its attacks, and it has begun engaging in digital terrorism as well.

The way Israel has been conducting cyberterrorism attacks in Lebanon over the past few days using sophisticated communication devices will have an impact on the entire world, not just the Middle East, as everyone will stop using and grow wary of communication devices. Although there have been reports of powerful countries using mobile phones and other communication devices to spy and target people, but this has been done individually. Now, Israel’s widespread use of pagers, laptops, solar cells and walkie-talkies for digital terrorism in Lebanon and the continued targeting of thousands of civilians have opened the path for a new form of terrorism and powerful countries with advanced technology will use it to paralyze their rival states. In addition, a similar attempt by terrorist organizations is not out of the question, because this terrorism is not only flourishing in the shadow of Israel but is also spreading throughout the world. However, because our society is both physical and digital, the unwarranted and dangerous use of electronic gadgets can exacerbate the problem by increasing the likelihood of a world where human life is in jeopardy through the use of spyware and digital warfare. The undeclared war between Hezbollah and Israel has intensified to the point that it has criminally exposed all the barbarian tactics of violating war principles during the international genocide of Palestinians, Lebanese and the indiscriminate attacks have sparked fear and debate on social media that all such precision targeting is against international law.

The world is aware that Israel is committing terrorism in public, but there has been no decisive response from anyone, including the United States. The US Secretary of State and Pentagon spokesperson have stated that they have no knowledge about it, while Israel has stayed entirely mute. It seems that Israel wants to extend its war to Lebanon in any case, one of the reasons for this is that the oppressed people of Gaza are still under siege and Palestinians are continually being massacred. Indifference is at an all-time high, with hardly a single country prepared to take any actual actions beyond verbal submissions. Some important Muslim countries are also avoiding verbal resistance, it is the hypocritical character of Islamic countries that Israel’s morale has risen to the point where, following the use of chemical weapons, it is now freely employing digital technology in conflict and no one is speaking against it nor is anyone stopping it, all are silent and cognizant that their turn will not come.

If anyone believes that this digital terrorism would be restricted to Israel and Lebanon, they are deluding themselves, history has shown that a new technology cannot be hidden nor can its use be stopped for a long time. Technology will inevitably come one after the other and its use will continue to increase. When the United States made nuclear explosions, it was the only nuclear power in the world, but today there are over eight nuclear-armed countries. Same is the case with the rest of the technology, but the current technology is not made for the good of the common man but to kill and is being used by Israel very brutally upon civilians. Therefore, the immediate cessation of this warfare is imperative. If the U.S. and its allies want, Israel can be immediately reined in and not only held accountable for new digital terrorism but also stop the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. If necessitated precautions are not taken and Israel is left unchecked, the risks of conflict in the world will continue to escalate and this illegitimate state of Israel will become a cause of destruction and infamy for the whole world.

Attiya Munawer
The writer is an activist and environmen-talist. She covers human rights and politico-environmental issues. She tweets @AttiyaMunawer and can be reached at attiabutt121@gmail.com