Exclusive: Tory MP Looks at Israel’s Lebanon Pager Attacks ‘With Awe’

An MP said we should “look on in awe” at Israel’s “phenomenal” pager attacks and described dead children as “collateral damage”, Novara Media can reveal.

Speaking about UK defence policy at the fringe of the Conservative party conference on Monday, Lincoln Jopp MP said: “Let’s just look at 1,500 exploding pagers and look on with awe, at how little that cost and how effective that was.”

Asked about the human rights implications of such attacks by Novara Media, Jopp said: “No one has – I don’t think – owned up for it have they? So we don’t even know whether it was a state actor or not, and it raises some really interesting questions about rules of engagement on targeting … Do I have any concerns about it? Yeah, I’ve got questions about it.”

He continued: “Let us say that you have a proper targeting strategy, and every single one of those 1,500 pagers was in the hands of people you wanted to kill. And let’s say three kids were playing with them when they went off. That is a phenomenally small amount of collateral damage [compared] to any other attack that I can think of.

“I mean, it’s just phenomenal, and it would probably meet most Western nations’ collateral damage estimate thresholds compared to anything else.”

On 17 and 18 September, thousands of explosions struck pagers and walkie talkies in Lebanon, in an attack intended to harm members of the paramilitary group Hezbollah. The explosions killed 42 people, including two children, and wounded thousands.

UN experts called the attacks, widely attributed to Israel, a “terrifying” violation of international law. An investigation into the explosions has been urged by the UN, Amnesty international and Human Rights Watch.

The attacks heralded Israel shifting the focus of its attacks from Gaza to Lebanon, risking a wider regional war. Following the pager explosions, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said: “We are opening a new phase in the war.” Israeli air strikes have flattened residential buildings and killed and displaced civilians. On Tuesday morning, Israeli ground troops invaded Lebanon for the first time since 2006.

Human rights groups slammed Jopp for his comments.

Zaki Sarraf, legal officer at the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, said: “These comments are deeply reprehensible from anyone, let alone a sitting member of parliament.

“Even setting aside that he sees small children as justifiable ‘collateral damage’, these pagers were also widely used by doctors in Lebanon’s hospitals. They exploded within supermarkets and on crowded streets.”

Karla McLaren, Amnesty International UK’s head of government affairs, said: “The pager attacks were highly indiscriminate, killing and injuring children and medical workers, and no UK politician should be celebrating them or callously referring to these casualties as ‘collateral damage’.

“Detonating thousands of devices simultaneously without being able to determine their exact location or whose possession they were in at the time of the attack showed a complete disregard for the right to life and for the laws of armed conflict.

“All politicians and commentators should be supporting a credible investigation into these attacks as suspected war crimes, not excusing or applauding them.”

Rami Mortada, Lebanese ambassador to the UK, said: “We had devices exploding in pharmacies, schools and hospitals. It is clear that it is a war crime that speaks for itself.”

Jopp’s comments came as he discussed Britain’s military spending at an event organised by More in Common, a not-for-profit which aims to “build more united, inclusive and resilient societies”.

Jopp has been MP for Spelthorne in Surrey since the 2024 election, when he took over from short-lived chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. Jopp, a retired colonel who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland, called a pro-Palestine protest which coincided with armistice day last year “pretty insensitive to the millions of people who want to wear a poppy”.

This year’s Tory conference has been labelled a “beauty pageant” for its four leadership candidates, as they try to attract the support of party members – partly through over-the-top displays of support for Israel.

On Saturday, leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch wrote in the Telegraph: “I am struck … by the number of recent immigrants to the UK who hate Israel. That sentiment has no place here.”

Not to be outdone, frontrunner Robert Jenrick appeared at a Conservative Friends of Israel event wearing a hoodie saying “Hamas are terrorists”. He also said that the Star of David should be displayed at every point of entry to the UK to show that “we stand with Israel”.

The Conservative party refused Novara Media’s application for accreditation to its 2024 annual conference without giving a reason.