Today, the far left across the globe holds opposition to Israel as one of its signature issues. While radical leftists once romanticized, apologized for, or embraced the murderous ideology of Bolshevism, today many do the same for jihadism. No individual embodies this transformation more than Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, known to the world as Carlos the Jackal. After an over-two-decade career in terrorism, Sánchez was arrested in 1994 and remains in a French prison. He recently granted a rare interview to two Israeli film directors, Yaron Nisi and Dani Liber. They write:

Sánchez . . . was born in Venezuela to a wealthy family. His father was a devout Communist who hated the West and—against the objections of his wife—even named his son after the Soviet leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Already from a young age, Carlos was involved in political struggles, and according to his own confession was only fifteen when he first kidnapped and killed someone.

His terror activities led to the deaths of over 1,500 people, mostly while working for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, to which he was first exposed after getting expelled from university and joining a training camp for foreign volunteers of the PFLP in Jordan in 1970. He experienced the events of Black September firsthand when King Hussein had thousands of Palestinians, who had set up military training camps in Jordan, massacred.

Carlos fought on the Palestinian side and later joined the PFLP as a member. During this time, he terrorized targets in Israel and Europe.

Sánchez describes himself thus:

I am a Communist, just like my father, a Stalinist Communist. I believe in God. I am a Sunni Muslim. I believe in the goal of Palestine. I was the first non-Arab person to join the Palestinian struggle. I have killed at least 83 people myself, and between 1,500-2,000 have been killed at my command.

The PFLP appears to have expelled Sánchez after he reportedly pocketed millions of dollars in exchange for releasing hostages and refraining from assassinations. As comfortable with entrepreneurship as he is with religion, this self-professed Stalinist then started his own terrorist group that sold its services to the highest bidder.

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.