Having devoted itself to orchestrating and campaigning for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), a Washington-based organization with close ties to the regime in Tehran, has now turned its attention to easing restrictions on Iranians seeking to enter the U.S. Jordan Schachtel writes:

The . . . Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 passed in the House with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 407 to 19.

The new law tightens the already-established U.S. Visa-Waiver Program (VWP) to prohibit some Iranian, Syrian, Sudanese, and Iraqi nationals from entering the United States, recognizing that the citizens of these nations come from war-torn states and live under the control of anti-American . . . regimes and Islamic insurgencies. The Iranian regime fiercely opposes the measure. Tehran has accused AIPAC and other “Zionist” entities of being behind the measure.

Though the bill received almost unanimous support from the public at large and in the halls of Congress, NIAC has implemented the same strategy it used in garnering support for the Iran deal. It has described the bill as “racist” and “discriminatory,” and has called upon Congress and the president to revoke the national-security legislation. It has achieved some success thus far.

Members of Congress have alleged that the Obama administration—which remains close with NIAC (and employs a NIAC alumna, Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, as the National Security Council’s director for Iran)—is carving loopholes into the waiver restrictions, specifically for Iranian nationals.

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.