Thanks to the Taylor Force Act, signed into law in March, more public attention has been focused on the Palestinian Authority’s policy of paying salaries to those who are in Israeli jails for committing acts of terror, as well as to the families of those who died carrying out violent attacks. Yet some mainstream journalists in the U.S. have protested that some of the money the PA allocates for this purpose goes to political prisoners, common criminals who happen to be in Israeli jails, and innocents unjustly arrested. Sander Gerber and Yossi Kuperwasser set the record straight:

The Palestinian Authority is a terror-sponsoring entity under any definition. [Its] laws rewarding imprisoned terrorists stipulate that they are not criminals, but fighters in a conflict. To claim that the PA sends money to car thieves or even minor offenders is simply untrue. The PA has a schedule for payments, and you need to achieve a five-year sentence as a male, and a two-year sentence as a female, to get a lifetime annuity. Currently there are 6,500 prisoners being compensated by the PA.

The PA is making no secret of its sponsorship for terrorists at the expense of America’s taxpayers. . . .

The [PA’s] Institution for the Care of Martyrs is a slightly more complicated story. It is true that “martyrs” include those who become victims of collateral damage, just as they include suicide bombers or any other terrorist who died in the context of the ongoing Palestinian war against Zionism. The minimum payment for a martyr’s dependents is more than 2.5 times the maximum payment for families on welfare. Martyrs’ financial annuities go not merely to support the dependents, but to glorify and cherish the murderers’ memory, and to incentivize family members to commit further attacks against Israel.

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.