Israeli "balloon bombs"

As I've noted before, former Mossad officer Victor Ostrovsky's book By way of Deception reveals that Palestinian captives were subjected to human experimentation at Israel's Nes Ziyyona facility, which is devoted to studying chemical, bacteriological and radiological warfare. In the 1950s, the Israelis conducted massive radiological experiments on Sephardic Jews. In the year 2000, an Israeli medical journal published an article bearing the ominous title "Human experimentation in the Israel Defence Forces--between the hammer of necessity and the anvil of ethics"; it remains untranslated.

One should keep this history in mind when reading the following report (see also here):

Beirut- Israeli planes violated Lebanese airspace Saturday and dumped green balloons over the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanese security sources said.

Lebanese troops cordoned off the area around the coast of Tyre and prevented people from touching the "suspicious balloons" after reports indicated that some people were poisoned when they did.

According to a hospital source in Nabatiyeh, similar green balloons were dropped over the market-town of Nabatiyeh, 54 kilometres south of Beirut.

Five people suffering from nausea and dizziness were brought into hospital after they touched the "suspicious green balloons," the source said.

An attempt at mass extermination? Highly unlikely. I suspect that the Israelis are trying to prove the feasibility of the concept.

Ha'aretz attempts to argue that the balloons were simply a misinterpreted promotional stunt intended to advertise a newspaper. All other reports, however, make clear that the balloons were dropped by Israeli war planes violating Lebanese airspace.

A promotional stunt? That's the most ludicrous cover story I've heard in ages.