Director Justin Folk knew he needed Netanyahu's help to make film about detonating Hezbollah pagers

Film director Justin Folk knew he had to build relationships with Israeli officials to show how Mossad snuck explosives into pagers to disrupt Hezbollah terrorists.

That task got easier the moment he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“What is a woman? Nobody can answer this question,” Folk recalls Netanyahu saying, playfully referring to the director’s 2022 film starring Matt Walsh. The leader’s humor, and familiarity with Folk’s film resume, helped seal the deal on a startling new project.

“Paging Hezbollah," in theaters Oct. 30, recalls the nation’s stunning move to infiltrate its decades-long enemy and change the power structure in the Middle East region.

Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Doran called the 2024 operation “one of the most astonishing intelligence operations in history.”

To make it happen, undercover Israeli officials convinced Hezbollah to invest in a line of new, rugged pagers to connect with fellow fanatics. But the pagers contained tiny explosives that could be detonated remotely for maximum chaos.

The plan worked to near-perfection, striking at the heart of a terrorist group and having a ripple effect in the region.

Folk (“What Is a Woman?” “No Safe Spaces” and “Am I Racist?”) remembers hearing about the pager plot and marveling at its audacity. He knew it would make a fascinating film but didn’t give it much thought beyond that.

When a producer friend suggested him as a possible director for a documentary on the topic, Folk didn’t hesitate. The producer had some initial Israeli connections, but Folk’s team had more work to do.

Enter Netanyahu, along with Mossad members who needed to trust him to share their story on screen.

“Israel is very, very good at fighting kinetic wars. It’s not very good at telling their story,” Folk said. “If they don’t do it, someone else will.”

That’s why he brought up the 1942 film “Mrs. Miniver.” The Oscar-winning film put a face on the countless British citizens whose lives were upended by Nazi airstrikes in World War II. The film helped convince Americans to join the war effort while stiffening Britain’s collective spine.

Winston Churchill said the film’s impact was worth “either five battleships or 50 destroyers.”

Folk’s film-themed pitch helped seal the deal, giving his team access to the pager plot’s core players and their intentions.

For example, Israeli officials didn’t want to cause widespread deaths with the micro-bombs.

“They had to engineer the pagers not to kill the terrorists but to injure them,” Folk says. “They didn’t want to create martyrs.” 

The plot killed 12 people and wounded roughly 3,000 others.  A subsequent attack based on walkie-talkie gadgets did more damage with similar technology.

“Paging Hezbollah” shares some fascinating elements of the plot, including how Israel marketed the larger-than-average pagers to convince Hezbollah to employ the new gadgets.

Folk’s documentary spends serious screen time sharing the context beyond the pagers – from Hezbollah’s chronic attacks on the Jewish nation to other nefarious actors in the region, including Iran and Hamas.

“The story is more than just some devices blowing up," he says. The context includes the several-decades-long conflict going on with Hezbollah in Lebanon and their connection to Iran and its various proxies around Israel. 

“Without it, you don’t understand how big this was or what a game changer this was," Folk also says.

Israeli officials say Hezbollah was planning a northern attack on Israel prior to the pager plot, for example. The scheme also paved the way for the Assad regime’s end in neighboring Syria.

Folk could see the pager attacks fuel a traditional feature film one day. 

“It has all the makings of an incredible spy thriller,” he says, one reason his movie features more dramatic recreations than a typical documentary.

Hollywood may not be rushing to shoot such a film now, given the industry’s pro-Palestinian activism. That didn’t scare Folk away from the project.

Just the opposite.

His previous work for The Daily Wire ruffled plenty of culture war feathers, but he’d do it again if necessary.

“I don't mind walking into a situation where I’m speaking a truth no one else wants to speak,” he says. “That’s my goal. ... It gives me a great sense of pride to tell a story no one wants to touch.”

Folk sees the pager operation success as something that doesn’t just impact the Middle East but the greater world.

“This is a battle for Western civilization. Israel happens to be the further outpost. Their fight is our fight,” he says. “People need to know what’s out there in the world and what a threat they are.”