Speaking at an event on Monday organized by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Hank Johnson, a congressman from Georgia, likened Jewish residents of the West Bank to termites. After being rebuked rather tepidly by the Anti-Defamation League, he responded via Twitter with something less than an apology, as David Wolpe writes:

This was [Johnson’s] tweet: “Poor choice of words—apologies for offense. Point is settlement activity continues [to] slowly undermine [the] two-state solution.” The ADL [replied] that they “appreciate” his clarification. That would have been far more convincing had the congressman apologized, but he did not. To apologize for “offense” is to say you are sorry that someone else feels the way they do. That is not an apology. “I am sorry I said something stupid and anti-Semitic”—that would have been a fitting apology.

These are not trivial issues. We are a half-century away from millions of human beings who were designated as “vermin” and killed. . . . To call Jews “termites” is base and vile.

You don’t know a good person by the fact that they never say anything objectionable. . . . But good people will be horrified when they realize what they have said. They will not apologize for someone else’s taking offense, but for their own insensitivity and cruelty.

That is what the congressman should have done. That is what he, pointedly, did not do. Draw your own conclusion.

Postscript: Yesterday evening, Wolpe announced that “Hank Johnson reached out to me and offered a full apology for the language, the imagery, and the hurt he caused.” Johnson also sent the ADL a tweet reading “I sincerely apologize for the offensive analogy. Period.”

On Tuesday, a Hizballah drone attack injured three people in northern Israel. The next day, another attack, targeting an IDF base, injured eighteen people, six of them seriously, in Arab al-Amshe, also in the north. This second attack involved the simultaneous use of drones carrying explosives and guided antitank missiles. In both cases, the defensive systems that performed so successfully last weekend failed to stop the drones and missiles. Ron Ben-Yishai has a straightforward explanation as to why: the Lebanon-backed terrorist group is getting better at evading Israel defenses. He explains the three basis systems used to pilot these unmanned aircraft, and their practical effects:

These systems allow drones to act similarly to fighter jets, using “dead zones”—areas not visible to radar or other optical detection—to approach targets. They fly low initially, then ascend just before crashing and detonating on the target. The terrain of southern Lebanon is particularly conducive to such attacks.

But this requires skills that the terror group has honed over months of fighting against Israel. The latest attacks involved a large drone capable of carrying over 50 kg (110 lbs.) of explosives. The terrorists have likely analyzed Israel’s alert and interception systems, recognizing that shooting down their drones requires early detection to allow sufficient time for launching interceptors.

The IDF tries to detect any incoming drones on its radar, as it had done prior to the war. Despite Hizballah’s learning curve, the IDF’s technological edge offers an advantage. However, the military must recognize that any measure it takes is quickly observed and analyzed, and even the most effective defenses can be incomplete. The terrain near the Lebanon-Israel border continues to pose a challenge, necessitating technological solutions and significant financial investment.