Right, so Israel’s grand security zone in southern Lebanon has apparently reached the “put a shop-window soldier in the firing line and hope for the best” phase.

Despite talks of some miracle new defence system in the offing, this is not a fancy laser, it is not a brand new air defence system to be deployed in Lebanon called the iron scrotum or some such other daft name, not one of those glossy start-up gadgets being presented by a salesman with a glossy pamphlet who says “battlefield ecosystem” far too much. It’s dummies. Fake soldiers. I suppose it goes well with all the fake news that comes out of Israel. Shop mannequins dressed up in military gear, reportedly placed in Lebanon as decoys against drones.

And yes, obviously, it’s funny. Look at it. It’s ridiculous.

But don’t let the joke distract from the bit underneath it, because the dummy is not just a gag. It’s what happens when the Hezbollah drone problem quite obviously still hasn’t gone away, and the attempts at answering them, from fishing nets as have been used in recent weeks to this now, clearly haven’t been enough, and seemingly such is the desperation now in trying to find a solution to this, that the next line of defence is now apparently Action Man with a death wish.

So when Israel’s leaders talk about control, and security zones, and staying until the threat is gone, keep that image in your head, because the answer now is apparently a helmet, a vest, but no pulse.