The appearance of the Palestinian Authority president at an Israeli state funeral came as a surprise to many. According to Eran Lerman, it’s possible that his attendance signifies a shift in strategy, albeit a hesitant one. If so, Abbas may be realizing that his campaign to use international institutions to delegitimize Israel and achieve recognition of a Palestinian state has been no more successful at achieving territorial concessions than his predecessor Yasir Arafat’s campaign of terror. Lerman suggests that if the Palestinian leader really does want a state, he will need to convince Israel’s citizens that he is serious about peace:

[Coming to Mount Herzl] took courage, which Abbas does not often possess. Here was a man in fragile health—he underwent a coronary bypass a week after the funeral—and besieged by Arab plans to bring in his hated rival, Muhammad Dahlan, either as his successor or as the power behind his successor. It was not an easy moment at which to ignore bitter criticism.

Yet he did attend the funeral, and was seated in the front row amidst Israeli flags at the very pinnacle of Zionist symbolism, the sacramental spot . . . where Israel marks its sorrows and joys. . . .

If Abbas does wish to reach out to the Israeli people, the effort cannot end with one symbolic act. Moreover, the traditional Palestinian approach to the Israeli political arena—trying to mobilize the committed Israeli left against their right-wing government—will no longer suffice. It would therefore be wise of Abbas to revisit the actual text of President Obama’s speech [at the funeral]. It made very clear that Israel is indeed, by right, the embodiment of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination. . . .

Sadly, the State Department largely vitiated this possibility by counter-factually suggesting yet again that Jerusalem is not in Israel. This exercise in futility can only make it harder for sober Palestinians to hear what Obama explicitly said about the Zionist project, as well as about young people in the Arab world being raised to hate. But if they are ever to engage seriously with the Israeli mainstream, those words are precisely what they should take away from this extraordinary event.

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.