The leader of the British Labor party has a long history of defending and even praising brutal dictators—from Hugo Chavez to Slobodan Milosevic to Bashar al-Assad—and expressing his admiration for terrorists, not to mention advocating his country’s unilateral nuclear disarmament. Yet, argues James Kirchick, too many on the British and American left are willing to dismiss Jeremy Corbyn’s unsavory views as unpleasant quirks, thus allowing these attitudes to be considered normal. He writes:

Perhaps the most disturbing phenomenon to have become “normalized” in Britain thanks to Corbyn is anti-Semitism. It should hardly come as a surprise that a man who called Hamas and Hizballah “friends,” attended pro-Palestinian events organized by a Holocaust-denier, invited a purveyor of the blood libel for tea at the House of Commons, and hosted programs on an Iranian propaganda network would embolden Jew-haters within Labor’s ranks.

That was indeed the finding of a 2016 cross-party parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism, which concluded that Corbyn had “created what some have referred to as a ‘safe space’ for those with vile attitudes toward Jewish people” in his party. The nature of this “safe space” was illustrated when Labor chose not to expel the former London mayor, Ken Livingstone, for repeatedly (and inaccurately) claiming, in a series of interviews and public statements, that Adolf Hitler “supported Zionism.” . . .

Corbyn supporters, [however], view the entire anti-Semitism controversy engulfing their party as a cynical, partisan campaign orchestrated by unscrupulous Jews “weaponizing” charges of anti-Semitism to defame his good character. . . .

[M]any Corbyn defenders insist that, when the future leader of the Labor party was attending IRA rallies or standing on stages draped with Hizballah flags, he was merely encouraging “dialogue.” This is disingenuous, at best. For whether the cause was Northern Ireland or Palestine, it was only the most violent and rejectionist elements with whom Corbyn associated during his decades as a parliamentary backbencher. And he always did so in clear support of their tactics and objectives, not as some neutral arbiter facilitating “dialogue.”

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.