In 1939, some 22,000 members of the German-American Bund—a pro-Nazi group—flocked to a rally in Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden, ostensibly to celebrate George Washington’s birthday. Isadore Greenbaum, a twenty-six-year-old resident of Brooklyn, snuck in to hear what was being said. At some point during a speech by the Bund’s leader, Fritz Kuhn, Greenbaum became so incensed by the anti-Semitic rhetoric that he rushed the stage, yelling “Down with Hitler!” As Philip Bump recounts, he was swarmed and beaten by a group of uniformed thugs until rescued by the police, who promptly arrested him. Video footage can be seen here:

When the U.S. entered World War II, Greenbaum joined the Navy, in which he served for the duration of the conflict. He recalled the Madison Square Garden incident in an interview with Stars and Stripes in which he claimed, apparently falsely, to have landed a punch on Kuhn.

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.