Egyptian Satirist Bassem Youssef as reports link Israeli spy agency Mossad to Lebanon pager attacks: You win Israel

Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef, known to be a vocal supporter of Palestine, took a pot shot at Israel after media reports claimed that Mossad, the nation’s spy agency, planted a small amount of explosives in some 5,000 pagers ordered by Hezbollah members before thousands of these wireless devices exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday killing nine people and injured nearly 3,000 others.

In a tweet, the Israel critic said that at the “whims of one country”, everyday devices like his phone, his children’s tablets or even their security devices could become “time bombs”

“You win Israel. Not a single politician or late night show talks about this? None of that worth the news? Nothing ‘funny’ can come out of it? The whole country is truly a hostage. The whole world is,” he said.

Besides Lebanon, nearly 100 blasts were also reported in Syria on Tuesday.

According to Iranian state media, the country’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among the thousands injured as a result of the pager blasts.

Hezbollah has condemned the explosions in the strongest terms, saying this was the “biggest security breach” the Iran-backed Lebanese group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel. It has also vowed retaliation against Israel.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time that the Egyptian satirist has spoken against Israel.

Earlier this year at the India Today Conclave 2024 in New Delhi, Youssef attacked the Jewish nation over its ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, and said the “alternative reality” created by Israel-sponsored propaganda is leading people to “be okay with” what the Palestinian civilians in Gaza have been subjected to in the conflict that has been going for nearly two years now.

He also labelled Israel a “typical narcissist”.

Youssef’s October 2023 interview with British TV presenter Piers Morgan went viral after he came up with a very witty response to the latter’s question on how Palestinians “are very difficult to kill”.

“I know because I’m married to one, and I have tried many times. I try to get to her, every time, but she uses our kids as human shields. I can never take her out.”

While saying that his wife’s relatives’ house was bombed in Gaza, Youssef stated sarcastically, “It’s very repetitive. We are used to that… It’s just like those Palestinians are very dramatic, ‘Oh Israel killing us’. But they never die. They always come back.”