Two weeks ago, three Arab members of Israel’s legislature visited the families of terrorists killed while carrying out deadly attacks and praised the killers as martyrs. The Knesset’s ethics committee temporarily suspended the three as a result. Now the Knesset is considering constitutional changes to streamline the procedure for such suspensions, prompting cries that Israeli democracy is being fatally undermined. Eylon Aslan-Levy responds:

Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would sponsor an amendment to the Basic Law . . . enabling the Knesset plenary itself to suspend or even expel members for ethics violations. . . . Far from undermining Israeli democracy, . . . the proposal brings Israel in line with other Western liberal democracies, many of which already have legal mechanisms for a legislature to hold unruly members accountable through suspension or expulsion. . . .

The United States Constitution, for example, empowers each house of Congress to expel any member by a two-thirds vote. . . . The House of Representatives has used [this power] as recently as 2002. . . Crucially, the Israeli proposal is considerably stricter than its American equivalent, since it would require an absolute majority of three-quarters of legislators rather than only two-thirds of those present and voting. . . . In the United Kingdom, the bar [for the suspension of MPs] is even lower. . . .

[Indeed], the inability of the Knesset to suspend membership . . . is the exception, not the norm.

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.