NY Times image: A building destroyed by Israeli strikes in Gaza City on Saturday (Oct. 7)

I’m still piecing sources together, but this weekend (Oct 7, 2023) has opened the always simmering geopolitical tensions of the Middle East into full-blown war. 50 years after the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Gaza launched a series of coordinated, sustained attacks. Over 250 Israelis were killed with approximately the same number of Palestinians killed with thousands injured; civilians were targeted and some even taken hostage (mostly young women). The scene was especially brutal; the world watched Palestinians parade corpses in the streets to cheering crowds jarred the international community. There are so many angles, actors, victims, and perspectives. A shocking reaction was Iran’s Supreme Leader calling Israel a “cancerous tumor” to be destroyed on social media. The Abraham Accords were a seemingly bright prospect for peace in the Middle East, but always one that side-stepped Palestine as Israel sought to normalize diplomatic relations with their Arab neighbors. Hamas might have attacked to keep some from straddling the fence of doing business with Israel with publicly stating they are for Palestine. There are times I wish not to know the news, but this is too monumental and seismic a change in the status quo to look away.

The Temple Mount or Al-Aqsa explained from a Muslim perspective
Some demographic context to consider as a backdrop for the the conflict