With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing that Hezbollah will "pay a heavy price" for its strike Saturday, there are renewed fears of retaliation that might touch off a potentially devastating war.
Hezbollah reportedly has an Iranian electromagnetic pulse weapon that would be so devastating even "the cockroaches will not survive," Asgard Systems CEO Rotem Mey-Tal, a military weapons developer, told The Jerusalem Post.
"In my personal opinion, not only is this an escalation on the map of potential threats, but it should also be regarded as close to a nonconventional weapon threat," he concluded. "Just as no sovereign country would tolerate a nonconventional weapon threat, the same applies here.
"This is because, in 2024, electronic processors manage and operate all the vital systems in the state of Israel — infrastructure, medical systems, security, and military applications.
"Think of the analogy from the 1960s, which describes that in a nuclear explosion, only the cockroaches would survive. In the same vein, in an electromagnetic attack, the 'cockroaches' [a nickname for electronic components in electrical circuits] will not survive this time.
"It will affect all of us in our daily lives and emergency preparedness. Like in a poker game, when someone raises a bet on the table, everyone stops everything and looks him in the eye to understand his next move or whether he is bluffing.
"I think we need to look them in the eye."
While Hezbollah's deadly strike on Israel ups the ante to north of Israel, Israel has been battling Hamas terrorists to the south in Gaza. Hamas terrorists have used the leverage of Oct. 7 hostages as human shields, Israel officials have alleged to Newsmax, to put worldwide pressure on Israel to not retaliate for its terrorists attacks.
Now, Hezbollah has the threat of a devastating EMP weapon, according to Mey-Tal.
"I suspect the threat is more focused on bases, strategic facilities, desalination systems, and the Israeli power grid," he told the Post. "However, it's impossible to say precisely, as such a weapon has never been used in history, so there are no sources or references to learn from."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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