The tale of the Oven of Akhnai—one of the best known talmudic stories and the subject of last week’s Mosaic podcast—describes the ancient rabbis arguing with God, and winning. To the geo-archaeologist Beverly Goodman, certain details in this story support physical evidence she has gathered that the Roman port of Caesarea, on Israel’s Mediterranean coast, was destroyed by a tsunami in the 2nd-century CE. Thanks to her research, a government committee chaired by Avi Shapira has put into place plans to mitigate the dangers if a tsunami were to occur again. Goodman, Shapira, and the historian Henry Abramson explain the discovery in an interview by Peter Gwinn. (Audio, 25 minutes. Transcript available at the link below.)

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.