For several years, Students for Justice in Palestine and other anti-Israel groups have been disseminating the claim that the Jewish state trains U.S. police officers to use brutal and lethal techniques, especially on black men—an accusation as absurd as it is malicious. In the wake of the death of George Floyd, this canard has taken on new life, leading the English actress Maxine Peake to claim that the police officer who murdered Floyd did so using a technique introduce by Israel. Jonathan Tobin comments on the uproar Peake inadvertently started in her own country, and an American parallel:

The Labor parliamentarian Rebecca Long-Bailey . . . got into hot water this week when she retweeted an article about Maxine Peake [containing] the lie about Israel and Floyd’s death with the comment, “Maxine Peake is an absolute diamond.” Labor’s former leader, [the anti-Semitic radical Jeremy Corbyn], might have joined her in that sentiment. But Corbyn’ssuccessor, Keith Starmer, . . . fired Long-Bailey as shadow education secretary, a post that would have ensured her membership in Britain’s cabinet if Labor were to win the next election.

But while Labor was attempting to change course, the most important newspaper in the United States has been heading in a different direction. Charlotte Greensit was hired as part of a changing of the guard at the Times after a staff revolt. . . . Greensit has personally tweeted defenses of the anti-Semitic statements by Representative Ilhan Omar, and argued that Hamas was justified in seeking to invade Israel. But in 2017, she also specifically tweeted that “Israeli security forces are training American cops despite history of rights abuses,” while promoting a libel of Israel.

It says something that in an institution that had become as thoroughly infiltrated by anti-Semitism as Labor, there’s now a new commitment to ridding the party of such hate. At the Times, however, left-wing anti-Semitism isn’t merely tolerated; it’s the sort of thing that can help you to rise to the top.

Britain’s opposition party may be serious about wanting to change course after becoming a home to Jew-hatred under its former leader. But . . . the Times, which has a lamentable history when it comes to Jewish issues, is heading down a path in which it is being bullied into taking radical positions that are antithetical to liberal values.

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.