Even Leon Panetta Says Israel’s Pager Attack Is “Terrorism”

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta called Israel’s pager attack in Lebanon “terrorism.”

Last week, pagers, walkie-talkies, and solar panels exploded across Lebanon, as well as Syria, in a series of deadly attacks reportedly carried out by Israel. On Tuesday, a wave of attacks, supposedly targeting pagers held by members of Hezbollah, killed at least 12 people including two young children and injured thousands more. A second wave of detonations on Wednesday killed another 20 people and injured more than 450 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

During an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Panetta warned that Israel was conducting a “war of terror.”

“The ability to be able to place an explosive in technology that is very prevalent these days, and turn it into a war of terror, really, a war of terror—this is something new,” Panetta said.

When asked whether Israel’s attack constituted terrorism, Panetta was unequivocal. “I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a form of terrorism,” he said.

Panetta served as the secretary of defense from 2011 to 2013 and director of the CIA from 2009 to 2011, both under President Barack Obama.

Panetta was then asked if he believed members of the international community, including the United States, should condemn Israel’s actions.

“I think it’s going to be very important for the nations of the world to have a serious discussion about whether or not this is an area that everybody has to focus on, because if they don’t try to deal with it now. Mark my word, it is the battlefield of the future,” he replied.

Israel’s deadly tactics in Lebanon have been condemned by Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, for violating international law by weaponizing ordinary devices. Türk explained that international law prohibits the use of booby-trapped items used in daily life, and “it is a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians.”

Israel has continued to target Lebanon with impunity, firing off a series of airstrikes Monday that have killed more than 274 people and wounded more than 1,000 more. Israel’s illegal attacks are a blatant attempt to broaden a regional war and draw U.S. forces into a fight against Iran.

J.D. Vance attempted to point out high prices in a recent campaign stunt at a grocery store, only to be caught with egg on his face.

On Saturday, the Trump War Room account on X posted a video of Vance visiting a grocery story, in which the vice presidential nominee complains that prior to Kamala Harris taking office, eggs cost less than $1.50 a dozen, but they now cost around $4 thanks to “the Inflation Explosion Act.”

But, easily visible in the video are the prices of the eggs behind him, which clearly cost between $2 and $3, which commentators on X quickly pointed out.

The Republican vice presidential candidate is also holding a package that clearly looks like two dozen eggs, not one dozen.

It’s no secret that grocery prices in the U.S. have gone up in the past few years. But the Republican vice presidential nominee should have probably thought to look at the prices behind him before waxing poetic about high prices. It’s only the latest misstep from Vance, who has recently shown ignorance about labor law, angered a crowd of firefighters, and even flubbed a question about what makes him smile.

The inflation in grocery costs has less to do with the president’s actions and more to do with the corporations that own grocery stores. But Vance missed what would have been a very easy jab at Harris, and the campaign somehow didn’t see the clear problems in the video they posted. And yet, Vance and Donald Trump remain neck and neck with Harris and Tim Walz in the polls.

The Ohio sheriff who likened migrants to “human locusts” and threatened local supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris is reaping the consequences of his own actions.

In a 3–1 vote on Friday, the Portage County elections board agreed to strip Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski of his election security duties, formally removing the sheriff’s office from providing security during in-person voting, reported The Daily Beast.

Earlier this month, the Ohio sheriff willingly threw himself into electoral politics in a Facebook post that referred to Harris as a “Flip-Flopping, Laughing Hyena,” inviting his constituents to send him the personal addresses of locals with Harris’s campaign signs in their yards.

He then proceeded to double down on the dangerous rhetoric after a county commissioner from the local Republican committee resigned over the comments.

“I believe that those who vote for individuals with liberal policies have to accept responsibility for their actions!” Zuchowski wrote.

The Ohio secretary of state’s office decided Tuesday that Zuchowski’s divisive statements didn’t break state election laws.

“Our office has reviewed the comments and determined they don’t violate election laws,” Dan Lusheck, deputy communications director for the Ohio secretary of state, told the Akron Beacon Journal. “The sheriff can speak and answer for himself about the substance of his remarks. We’re focused on running an election that begins with military and overseas ballots going out this Friday.”

The area’s local NAACP chapter responded to Zuchowski’s statements by holding an emergency meeting, which drew more than 100 attendees.

“They’re afraid to vote. They’re afraid to put signs in their yard,” Frank Hairson, the communications chair of the NAACP chapter, told the Ravenna Record-Courier.

Zuchowski’s posts were seemingly made in reference to a virulent conspiracy theory spread by top Republicans, including Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, about Haitian immigrants eating other residents’ pets in Springfield, Ohio—roughly 200 miles away from the sheriff’s district.

Since Vance and Trump began elevating the myth around the time of the second presidential debate, Springfield has received at least 33 bomb threats, forcing it to evacuate and temporarily shutter several of its schools, colleges, festivals, and a significant portion of its government facilities, including City Hall, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Ohio License Bureau, the Springfield Academy of Excellence, and Fulton Elementary School.

Multiple city officials, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, and even Vance himself have stated in no uncertain terms that the conspiracy is false.

Immigrants are no longer welcome in Donald Trump’s America. Instead, the Republican presidential nominee posited that under his potential second administration, he would round up and mass-deport noncitizens based on their “serial numbers.”

Speaking with Full Measure’s Sharyl Attkisson, Trump argued that the United States—which was founded by and has historically been a nation of immigrants—shouldn’t be a “dumping ground” for newcomers.

“But we’re getting the criminals out, and we’re going to do that fast, and we know who they are, and the local police know their names, and they know their serial numbers,” Trump said. “They know everything about them.”

Trump has regularly mimicked Adolf Hitler during his campaign. But the mention of serial numbers—a terrifying echo of the identification numbers forcibly tattooed on concentration camp prisoners—is one of his most chilling references yet.

“We’re not a dumping ground,” Trump continued. “We’re going to get all of those people out, and we’re going to get them out fast.”

Attkisson then asked Trump how he even intends to carry out mass deportations. “A lot of the millions of people have had children who are American citizens, and don’t you think the first time there is an image on television of a family tearfully being told to board a bus that that whole program would end?” she asked.

Trump agreed and offered a solution: less media coverage.

“That’s right,” he said. “If you take a young woman with two beautiful children, and you put her on a bus, and it ends up on the front page of every newspaper. It makes it a lot harder.

“You put one wrong person onto a bus or onto an airplane, and your radical left lunatics will try and make it sound like the worst thing that’s ever happened,” he added.

J.D. Vance gave a completely incoherent answer when asked about the sex scandal that has pretty much decimated North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson.

A bombshell report last week alleged that Robinson, the state’s current lieutenant governor, had written on a pornography website’s message board about wanting to own slaves, peeping in women’s locker rooms, and enjoying transgender porn. He’d also apparently called himself a “Black Nazi.”

During an interview Saturday with NBC Philadelphia, Vance was asked whether he believed Robinson, who had denied ever making the posts.

“I don’t not believe him. I don’t believe him. I just think you have to let these things sometimes play out in the court of public opinion,” Vance replied.

“He’s going to make whatever arguments he wants to make. I’m sure the news media and others are going to investigate these comments further. I just think that fundamentally it’s Mark Robinson and the people of North Carolina that get to decide whether he’s their governor,” he said.

Vance was also asked whether he was comfortable with Robinson being the Republican nominee.

“The allegations are pretty far out there, of course, but I know that allegations aren’t necessarily reality,” said Vance.

This is a distinctly new attitude for Vance, who has been quick to run with outlandish “allegations” in the past. The Ohio senator has spent the past two weeks elevating false claims of Haitian immigrants eating their neighbors’ pets, based on nothing more than scant reports that could not be verified and were ultimately debunked.

When asked whether he would take the stage with Robinson, Vance said that he and Donald Trump have no plans to appear with him again, adding that “when we go to places typically we hold our own events.” Robinson has appeared at events with Trump multiple times.

Last week, Trump’s campaign said they were not planning to pull the former president’s endorsement of Robinson.