The book of Leviticus, in its catalogue of forbidden unions, says nothing about marriage between uncles and nieces. The rabbis of the talmudic period allowed and even approved of such marriages, at least between a man and his sister’s daughter; they seem to have differed on the question of marriage between a man and his brother’s daughter, while agreeing that it was not forbidden by the Bible. Later, a small number of medieval rabbis moved to prohibit any uncle-niece marriage at all, and recent scholars have discovered ancient manuscript evidence that both Sadducees and the Qumran sect forbade such unions. Rudolph Klein explains:

[The 20th-century rabbi and academic scholar] Saul Lieberman argues that the talmudic rabbis classified marrying one’s niece as a positive deed specifically in order to counter the Sadducean view that marrying one’s niece is biblically forbidden. He notes it is the rabbis’ way to take things that are simply “allowed” by the Bible and encourage people to do them in order to undermine sectarian heretical views.

Interestingly, [the 14th-century rabbinic scholar] Ishtori ha-Parḥi notes that the Sadducees were not innovators in banning marriage to a niece; [he claims that] they adopted the prohibition from the Samaritans, who took the idea from the Arabs. Later, the Karaites also followed suit and outlawed uncle-niece marriage.

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.