Since Benjamin Netanyahu’s deadline for forming a government passed last night, Israel is now headed to new elections. The impasse came about because the demands of the ultra-Orthodox parties and the right-wing-but-secular Yisrael Beytenu party were diametrically opposed—and Netanyahu needs both to join his government in order to get the requisite number of Knesset seats. Amnon Lord blames the intransigence of Yisrael Beytenu’s leader, Avigdor Liberman, who, he argues, has not sufficiently respected the fact that the voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots for right-wing parties and should therefore have a right-wing government:

Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party lacks any democratic tradition and has no respect for election outcomes and no regard for the people’s verdict. In fact, we now live in a world in which all those forces who say they want to defend democracy are trying to undermine the will of the voters.

Liberman never called Netanyahu to congratulate him for his victory, as far as I know; he never asked Netanyahu how he could help him, and he could not care less about the fact Netanyahu was elected. . . . Yes, he said that Netanyahu’s main rival, the Blue and White party chairman Benny Gantz, was unfit to serve as prime minister, and said he would never serve in his government. . . . Liberman could have broken the impasse and joined forces with the prime minister so that they could deliver on what the people want them to do.

Truth be told, Liberman’s campaign pledges—ranging from civil marriage and the drafting of Ḥaredim [into the IDF] all the way to being tough on Gaza—didn’t quite help him win votes. The crisis he has generated . . . is perhaps his way of leveraging his poor electoral showing to the maximum.

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.