A Japanese firm whose name was on devices that exploded says it discontinued them a decade ago.

A Japanese handheld radio manufacturer has distanced itself from walkie-talkies bearing its logo that exploded in Lebanon, saying it discontinued production of the devices a decade ago.

At least 20 people were killed and 450 injured after hundreds of walkie-talkies, some reportedly used by the armed group Hezbollah, exploded across Lebanon on Wednesday.

The devices, according to photos and video of the aftermath of the attack, appear to be IC-V82 transceivers made by Icom, an Osaka-based telecommunications manufacturer.

But Icom says it hasn’t produced or exported IC-V82s, nor the batteries needed to operate them, for 10 years.

It is the second Asian company to be embroiled in bombing incidents in Lebanon this week, after thousands of exploding pagers seemingly linked to Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo killed at least 12 people and injured more than 2,000.

  • girlfreddyEnglish
    63·
    3 months ago

    No, but some/many Israelis have been calling for the killing of Arabs (and Christians) for years.

    Nothing about the attack or what happened since surprised Miran Krikorian. The Armenian owner of Taboon and Wine Bar in the Old City of Jerusalem was not surprised to receive a call the night of January 26 that a mob of Israeli settlers was attacking his bar in the Christian Quarter and shouting “Death to Arabs … Death to Christians.” Source

    Death to Arabs" or “Death to the Arabs” is an anti-Arab slogan commonly used by Jewish extremists across Israel, the West Bank, and to a lesser extent, the Gaza Strip. Depending on the person’s temperament, it may specifically be an expression of anti-Palestinianism or otherwise a broader expression anti-Arab sentiment, which includes non-Palestinian Arabs. It is widely condemned, with some observers asserting that it manifests genocidal intent. Source

    At the Flag March hours earlier, different groups of participants clashed and beat Palestinian locals and harassed journalists. They also sang racist chants such as “Death to Arabs,” “May your village burn” and “An Arab is a son of a b**ch,” as they danced near the Damascus Gate both before and during the rally on Thursday afternoon. Source

    Thousands of mostly ultranationalist Israelis took part in an annual march through a dense Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday, with some stoking wartime tensions and chanting “Death to Arabs.” Source

    Thousands of Israeli nationalists, some of them chanting “Death to Arabs,” paraded through the heart of the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday, in a show of force that risked setting off a new wave of violence in the tense city. Source

    Hundreds of far-right and anti-Palestinian activists took to the streets in Jerusalem’s Old City on Thursday chanting “Death to Arabs” as they protested through the city centre. Source

    The images of hundreds of religious Zionist activists in occupied East Jerusalem chanting “Death to Arabs” come as no surprise to Palestinians. In fact, they are commonplace, daily occurrences, the result of decades of racist policies, laws and hateful anti-Palestinian incitement. Source

    (from 1995) Hundreds of Israeli settlers chanting “Death to Arabs!” clashed with police outside Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s Jerusalem residence after two victims of a Palestinian attack were buried, witnesses said. In the West Bank town of Hebron, the Israeli army confined 100,000 Arabs to their homes to protect them from any revenge attacks for Sunday’s killing of the two Jewish settlers and wounding of five others by Palestinian gunmen, a senior officer said. In Washington, President Clinton extended U.S. sympathies to the families of the victims and to the injured. Source

    (from 1990) What manner of madness is it that drove mobs, some shouting ”Death to Arabs,” to mourn Rabbi Meir Kahane by running through the streets of Jerusalem hunting down Arabs and smashing shop windows? Source

    (from 1986) An estimated 1,000 Jews chanting “Death to the Arabs!” and “We want revenge!” turned a memorial march for a murdered Jewish student Sunday into what Israel radio described as “an ugly demonstration that nearly ended in a riot.” Source