Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s deputy foreign minister and a leading figure in the Likud, has recently been the subject of two controversies in the U.S. First, a Hillel house canceled, for political reasons, a talk she was scheduled to give. (The Hillel’s director later apologized.) Second, she gave an interview in which she commented that American Jewish teenagers, unlike their Israeli counterparts, rarely serve in the military and are not subject to rocket attacks. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the Union of Reform Judaism, responded with pique, calling on Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss her from his cabinet. Leah Aharoni comments:

The real issue is not what Hotovely had to say. The real issue is who she is. When Rabbi Jacobs and his peers look at Hotovely, they see the ultimate other. She is everything they are not. Hotovely is a young, dynamic, religiously observant woman, who wears her wig with pride. She is [non-Ashkenazi] and [politically] right-wing. And since she is poised, attractive, articulate, and intelligent, they also perceive her as dangerous.

Hotovely breaks every stereotype the Reform leaders seem to want their constituents to believe about Orthodox Judaism and the status of women. No, she is not barefoot and pregnant. Yes, she is the new face of religious women in Israel, an engaged, worldly leader, who embraces the traditional values of Judaism, motherhood, and family. And with all her appeal she holds right-wing political views and serves in Netanyahu’s government.

You would think that the same leaders who are valiantly standing up to Hotovely would have had the courage to stand beside her when Hillel caved in to BDS pressure and canceled her talk. They did not. Ironically, the only American group to defend Hotovely and to offer her an alternative venue for her speech was Chabad. The supposedly misogynist “ultra-Orthodox” rabbis went out of their way to protect her right to speak, while the feminist men did not raise a finger to defend her or her right to free speech.

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.