Death Toll Passes 1,100

Plus: Amazon goes to space, striking autoworkers win concessions, and more…

LIZ WOLFE

Video has circulated on social media of atrocities committed by the invaders, including several of Hamas going door-to-door in southern Israel, entering people’s homes, and slaughtering innocent people, including children, as family members are forced to watch. One viral video shows a 25-year-old Israeli woman, Noa Argamani, who was kidnapped by Hamas while attending a music festival.

At that same music festival—Nova, at Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel—rockets began appearing in the sky around 6:30 a.m., prompting a mass evacuation. But then “four pickup trucks filled with armed militants and gunmen on motorcycles encircled the road leading out of the event venue, which was bottlenecked with cars attempting to flee the area,” per The New Yorker‘s Ruth Margalit. “These were executions,” one source who was in attendance told Margalit. “We were like ducks in a firing range.”

More than 700 Israelis have died so far. Israel has responded by striking Gaza—including hospitals, and residential buildings that the military claims are occupied by members of Hamas—killing almost 500 Palestinians. (Background on Gaza here.)

“We are at war,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an address, declaring that the army would be mobilized and reservists called up. Schools will close, and most international airlines that service Tel Aviv have ceased operations there for now.

One likely reason for the attack: the negotiations between the U.S., Israel, and Saudi Arabia, which had been getting close to “full diplomatic normalization of Israeli-Saudi diplomatic relations,” writes Responsible Statecraft‘s Paul R. Pillar.

“From the general Palestinian perspective, any such three-way diplomatic deal would be a step backwards for Palestinian self-determination, because an Israeli objective is to enjoy such fruit without making peace with the Palestinians,” notes Pillar. “From Hamas’s perspective, it sees the rival Palestinian Authority taking a remarkably complacent posture toward the prospect of upgraded Saudi-Israeli ties, seemingly content to remain in its role of an auxiliary to the Israeli occupation. That leaves it to Hamas to actively oppose this backward step.”

Another possible reason: The ongoing expansion of the Israeli settlements, marked by “vigilante” attacks on Palestinians, has led many observers to fear another intifada would soon break out in the West Bank. Hamas, which has long been at odds with other Palestinian factions, may have wanted to seize the initiative, thus positioning itself in front of the movement.

While much of the reaction to this weekend’s violence has been thoughtful and informative, there have also been two other categories. Extremely Online insanity…

Scenes from New York:

QUICK HITS

• Though still on strike, the “United Auto Workers won a landmark concession from General Motors Co. to bring battery plant workers into the union’s fold,” which sets the stage for unionized electric vehicle plants.
• Watch Reason‘s Matt Welch on Real Time with Bill Maher if you know what’s good for you.
• Pivot to…LinkedIn?
• Fascinating voter demographic changes:

• Against safetyism, tech edition:

• Such a dumb strain of anti-AI sentiment (of course image generators can be used to make things you find offensive):

• Amazon goes to space
• “Any retaliation against Tehran—amid reports that it helped to plan the [Hamas] attacks—could endanger the passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit that transports much of the world’s crude [oil] and which the Iranian government previously has threatened to close,” reports Bloomberg. “Iran denied on Monday that it was involved in the assault.”
• How does the Iron Dome work?

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