The nuclear scientists were killed using a special weapon whose details were barred from publication, Channel 12 says.
The 10th nuclear scientist was killed shortly after the other nine, as part of the overnight Thursday-Friday Israeli operation, which included strikes on Iran’s ballistic missile program and the Natanz nuclear site, along with the elimination of top members of the Islamic Republic’s military leadership, the network says.
The nuclear scientists were all killed while they were sleeping in their beds, with Israel deciding to carry out the assassinations simultaneously so that there wouldn’t be time to tip off those being targeted.
The scientists apparently believed they were safe from such targeting in their homes, a senior Israeli official tells Channel 12, noting that previously assassinated nuclear scientists were killed while heading to their cars after work.
Israel had been tracking Iranian nuclear scientists for years and the ten killed last week were marked for assassination in November of last year, Channel 12 says.
Just when I feel like dystopian news can’t really disturb me anymore…
Leaving this totally unrelated article about Palantir and Israel here for absolutely no reason at all…
How Israel Uses AI in Gaza—And What It Might Mean for the Future of Warfare:
A program known as “The Gospel” generates suggestions for buildings and structures militants may be operating in. “Lavender” is programmed to identify suspected members of Hamas and other armed groups for assassination, from commanders all the way down to foot soldiers. “Where’s Daddy?” reportedly follows their movements by tracking their phones in order to target them—often to their homes, where their presence is regarded as confirmation of their identity. The air strike that follows might kill everyone in the target’s family, if not everyone in the apartment building.
Abraham, whose report relies on conversations with six Israeli intelligence officers with first-hand experience in Gaza operations after Oct. 7, quoted targeting officers as saying they found themselves deferring to the Lavender program, despite knowing that it produces incorrect targeting suggestions in roughly 10% of cases.
Just to play devils advocate, what circumstances is it legitimate for Israel to attack Iran?
Yeah, that’s cool.
Well I guess my opinion is that it’s essentially never “legitimate” to be the aggressor. Determining which party is the aggressor can sometimes be complicated, but it often boils down to this: which party is crossing the border?
In this case, I’m sure many would say that Iran took the first aggressive action by pursuing a nuclear program, but I have a few issues with that. First, Israel already has nuclear weapons, so surely that is an earlier provocation. Secondly, Iran still isn’t crossing the border, Israel was first to pull the trigger, and they pulled a lot of triggers (in Iranian territory). And finally, Israel and Iran have been in the process of forging nuclear treaties many times now, and nearly every time Israel has sabotaged the talks with provocative, often military actions, or they simply left the table - it seems clear to me that Israel does not want a nuclear deal, they will not accept any kind of compromise.
If that’s your metric, then I think Israel meets it. Iran has sponsored and directed non-state actors in Israel. These include both Hamas and Hezbollah. Additionally, Houthi militants have targeted Israeli civilian shipping.