Hezbollah Device Explosions Put Democrat Divisions on Show

The Israel-Hamas war has long been a point of division for the Democratic Party and the recent pager and walkie-talkie attacks have thrust this back into the spotlight.

Pagers used by hundreds of Hezbollah members exploded near-simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people, including two young children, and wounding thousands more.

The next day, a second wave of explosions, involving walkie-talkies used by the militant group, killed at least 20 people and wounded 450, the Health Ministry said, according to The Associated Press.

Both attacks are believed to have been carried out by Israel, which is yet to make any official comment about them.

Several Democrats have spoken out against the strikes, including frequent Israel critics Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), the representative for New York’s 14th congressional district, and Ilhan Omar, the representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district.

AOC wrote on X: “Israel’s pager attack in Lebanon detonated thousands of handheld devices across of a slew of public spaces, seriously injuring and killing innocent civilians.

“This attack clearly and unequivocally violates international humanitarian law and undermines US efforts to prevent a wider conflict.

“Congress needs a full accounting of the attack, including an answer from the State Department as to whether any US assistance went into the development or deployment of this technology.”

Omar said: “Netanyahu’s reckless disregard for civilian lives in the pager attack in Lebanon is yet another example of why we need to cut off military aid.”

Meanwhile, Senator Berni Sanders is preparing several resolutions to try to stop more than $20 billion in U.S. arms sales to Israel.

He said: “Much of the carnage in Gaza has been carried out with U.S.-provided military equipment. Why on earth would the U.S. approve another $20 billion arms sale to Israel? I will move to block these weapons. Not another nickel for Netanyahu’s illegal war.”

Meanwhile, other Democrats have stood by the attacks, including Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who said: “I absolutely endorse weaponizing Hezbollah’s tools of terror against themselves.”

Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster who is the president of the Democratic Majority for Israel group, reposted a message written by The New York Times columnist David French.

He said: “From a law of war standpoint, Israel’s pager bombs represent one of the most precisely targeted strikes in the history of warfare. I can’t think of a single widespread strike on an armed force that’s embedded in a civilian population that’s been more precise. It’s remarkable.”

Hezbollah, officially classed as a terrorist organization in the U.S, has been carrying out cross-border attacks on Israel, seen by many as a way to keep Israel under pressure on multiple fronts in order to help Gaza-based Hamas, also a U.S. designated terrorist group.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was quick to say on Wednesday that the U.S. did not know about and was not involved in the pager attack.

He said during a press conference with Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty: “With regard to Lebanon, the United States did not know about nor was it involved in these incidents. We’re still gathering the information, gathering the facts.”

“We’ve been very clear and we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we’re trying to resolve in Gaza,” he added, “To see it spread to other fronts—it’s clearly not in the interest of anyone involved to see that happen.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, has been pulled in different directions on the issue of the war in the Middle East since she began her campaign.

She is generally seen as more sympathetic to Palestinian suffering, as one of the first Democrats to come out in favor of a ceasefire in March—before Joe Biden—and a believer in a two-state solution so “Palestinians have dignity, self-determination and security.”

But Harris has also repeatedly said she believes in Israel’s right to defend itself and has refused calls to impose an arms embargo on Israel.

She has had to grapple with pro-Palestine protests outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month, with demonstrators yelling things like: “You are funding a genocide. The Harris-Biden administration keeps sending money to Israel.”

While trying to assure folks that she is in favor of a ceasefire, as she did during an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) on Tuesday, she has also had to push back against Donald Trump‘s narrative that she “hates Israel,” as he claimed during their presidential debate last week.

Trump said that if Harris is elected in November, he believes “that Israel will not exist within two years from now.”

Harris pushed back on Trump’s claim, saying that she has spent her “entire career and life” supporting Israel. Her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, is Jewish.

Newsweek has contacted the Harris campaign and the Democratic Party via email for comment.