The method used in Israel’s recent attack on Lebanon, where everyday devices were used as weapons, is of global significance and will shake the world.
Israel aimed to kill or maim people by detonating pagers and radio devices.
Could other technological devices also be used as weapons next?
For example, plunging an entire city into darkness and striking predetermined targets in that darkness…
We know from the fact that the pagers that exploded in Lebanon reached the country via Taiwan and Hungary that these devices don’t need to be Israeli-made to be turned into weapons.
For this reason, it’s necessary to approach not just pagers, walky talkies, or mobile phones but every device and technology-based service bought from abroad with suspicion.
I’ve always been surrounded by engineers. My spouse is an engineer, and three engineers came out of our house. I know many engineers. Because of this, discussions about technological issues often come up in family and friends’ communications. I also take a particular interest in technology news in newspapers and magazines.
Although we are a country where local production is often used as propaganda, I have noticed a lack of sensitivity in the most critical areas.
Recently, our car journeys between Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir have increased. Last weekend, when we set off from Istanbul to Ankara, we stopped at a gas station, as usual, owned by the Mehmetçik Foundation to fill the car’s tank.
The foundation had replaced its local and national operator with a foreign brand. When I asked the attendant, I learned that the change had taken place a month ago: local OPET had left, and French TOTAL had arrived.
Even though there are local products, public institutions still prefer foreign brands. While it’s expected that sensitive institutions promote local products, when it comes down to it, the purchasing departments often prefer the foreign product they’re used to over the local one.
There are countless examples of this…
In Lebanon, Hezbollah, knowing it was a target of Israel and calculating that mobile phones could be used for surveillance, instructed its members to use pagers or walky talkies as alternative communication methods.
Surely, those who made this decision on behalf of Hezbollah never thought that these devices could be used as weapons.
Since the devices were marked Taiwan/Hungary, they must have felt secure.
Here, too, many people who use sensitive foreign devices and services likely don’t consider that they could one day turn into a threat to security.
Because they don’t think this way, they easily choose foreign products even when there are local alternatives.
I’ve heard about these kinds of choices from my surroundings, so I write with confidence.
In the early years when mobile phones entered our daily lives, I once learned that one of the service providers was receiving a simple service from an Israeli firm. SMS messages weren’t going directly to the recipient’s device; they were first passing through the main computer of a company in Tel Aviv and then reaching the intended person in Türkiye.
I researched the matter thoroughly. I remember that after my articles, the company struggled to explain why it had adopted such a method.
There has been a constant focus on defense industry. As Bayraktars filled that field, the successive production of war vehicles defined the limits of the local and national sensitivity.
However, it’s essential to choose local over foreign products in many security-related fields and encourage those who can work towards producing what hasn’t yet been developed.
The primary goal of the Presidency of Defense Industries and TÜBİTAK should be this.
Are they really working towards that goal, and are effective achievements being supported?
I’m doubtful.
Israel’s attack on Lebanon should have reminded those concerned that much more caution is needed regarding this issue. We now know that any device can be turned into a weapon.
Why shouldn’t another country repeat today’s action, which Israel carried out without consequence, against another nation?
Devices—and services—purchased from a country with which relations are good could be weaponized by a completely unrelated country; is Turkey safe in such a situation?
These are the questions that need attention and effort to address.
Our world, after the attack in Lebanon using devices, is now far less secure than ever before.
And so is Turkey.
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[The translation of the article is by ChatGPT with some minor modifications.]
