‘Israel’s 9/11’: Political analysts react to deadly Hamas attack

Published

2 years ago

October 8, 2023

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Children are seen in a destroyed house after Israeli attacks in Gaza City, Gaza on October 07, 2023.

Mustafa Hassona | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

From being labeled “Israel’s 9/11,” to the culmination of a “50-year time bomb,” political analysts are reacting to the Israel-Hamas conflict and contemplating what happens next as the fighting extends into a second day.

At dawn Saturday, Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an infiltration into Israel by land, sea and air. The attack came hours after a barrage of rockets were sent from Gaza into Israel. The offensive occurred during a major Jewish holiday, and a day after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.

The attack certainly “did not come out of the blue,” said Dan Steinbock, founder of global consultancy firm Difference Group.

Massive attacks by Hamas leadership into Israel… This is no less than Israel’s 9/11.

Ian Bremmer

President of Eurasia Group

“The Israeli-Hamas War is a logical result of 50 years of failed military policies,” Steinbock said in an e-mail to CNBC. He added that the attack marked the first major direct conflict within the Israeli territory since the country’s founding.

“It is a game-changer in the Israeli-Palestine conflict,” Steinbock added.

At the time of publication, at least 250 Israelis have reportedly been killed with more than 1,860 injured, according to NBC News. The Palestinian Healthy Ministry, meanwhile, has recorded 256 deaths and 1,790 injuries in Gaza.

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Israel’s 9/11?

“Massive attacks by Hamas leadership into Israel … This is no less than Israel’s 9/11,” said the president of Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer, in reference to the scale of the attack.

Israel is in its “strongest geopolitical position” in decades, Bremmer said in a video analysis, elaborating on Israel’s normalization of ties with various nations. Bremmer cited the Abraham Accords, which opened diplomatic relations between Israel and the UAE, as well as Morocco and Bahrain. More recently, talks of potentially normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel had been in the cards.

“And if you are the leadership of Hamas, refusing to accept Israel’s right to exist … watching the politics of the region turn against you … Well, certainly that is part of the reason why Hamas would have decided to engage in this level of unprecedented strikes against Israel,” Bremmer concluded.

‘Massive intelligence failure’

The attack also marked a “massive intelligence and defense failure for Israel,” Bremmer highlighted, saying it was an oversight stemming from the government’s new judicial reforms.

Israel’s defense system is hallmarked by its “Iron Dome,” an anti-rocket air defense system shielding its heavily populated areas since 2011. The dome claims to have a 96% success rate, however, some of Hamas’ rockets have bypassed the defenses and struck buildings inside Israel.

Rockets launched towards Israel from the northern Gaza Strip and response from the Israeli missile defense system known as the Iron Dome leave streaks through the sky on May 14, 2021 in Gaza City, Gaza.

Fatima Shbair | Getty Images

For months, Israel has been beleaguered by political turmoil following controversial judicial reforms pushed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government.

And that, according to Bremmer, “has clearly distracted Israeli intelligence. It’s also distracted the Israeli military,” he said, many of whom said they were not willing to serve in the military if the judicial overhaul proceeded.

Saudi-Israeli normalization?

And what does the fighting mean for both parties’ relations with other Middle Eastern counterparts?

For one, analysts expect the conflict to derail a U.S.-brokered negotiation between Israel and Saudi Arabia to establish formal relations with each other.

“The violence has certainly poured cold water on the possibility of a fast-tracked Israeli-Saudi normalization process and reminded the international community that the issue of Palestine requires urgent conflict management and mediation,” said Chatham House’s Middle East North Africa Programme Director Sanam Vakil.

From what we see so far … [this] is a Gaza and Israel war. So far there is no sign that Iran and Hezbollah plan to join. As long as this is the case the global impact is limited.

Zvi Eckstein

emeritus professor of Economics at Tel Aviv University

Just a few weeks back, Saudi Arabia had told the Biden administration of its decision to freeze efforts toward normalizing relations with Israel. According to the Saudi-owned newspaper Elaph, an Israeli official had attributed the suspension to the Israeli government’s unwillingness to make any concessions to the Palestinians.

“The Israeli-Saudi deal which was close to getting done is now over,” Bremmer said. “If anything was accomplished that Hamas wanted, that would be the single biggest thing,” he said.

Saudi Arabia has stated it does not support the attacks, and has joined global calls for a de-escalation.

“The kingdom recalls its repeated warnings of the dangers of the explosion of the situation as a result of the continued occupation, the deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and the repetition of systematic provocations against its sanctities,” Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday.

Does the conflict spread?

“From what we see so far … [this] is a Gaza and Israel war. So far there is no sign that Iran and Hezbollah plan to join. As long as this is the case the global impact is limited,” Zvi Eckstein, former deputy governor at the Bank of Israel, told CNBC via e-mail.

Eckstein, who is currently emeritus professor of economics at Tel Aviv University, said he does not see any global impact like that of the Russia-Ukraine war.

However, that may not stay for long, should Iran be found to have had a hand in the attacks, Bremmer said.

“Certainly, if it is found that Iran helped to plan these attacks by Hamas, that would be a game changer and would probably lead to Israeli strikes against Iranian military,” he said.

“The broader question is whether or not we see ongoing military collaboration for Hamas, from Iran, from Syria … that could of course lead to an expansion of the war.”

On Sunday, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group confirmed it launched attacks on three sites in the Shebaa Farms — a strip of land that sits at the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Golan Heights, which is occupied by Israel. The Israeli Defense Force confirmed it has returned fire and “struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure.”

Environment

Electric vehicles reach tipping point in China, surge to 51% market share

Published

1 hour ago

August 29, 2025

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Electric vehicles reach tipping point in China, surge to 51% market share

Electric vehicles have reached a tipping point in China. They now represent the majority of the new car market, surging to 51% market share.

China and electric vehicles are linked together.

The majority of the world’s electric vehicles (BEVs and PHEVs) are both built and sold in China.

In 2024, global electric car production reached around 17 million vehicles, with China accounting for about 12 million of those — over 70% of the world’s total.

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Roughly 11 million of the 12 million EVs were also sold in China. The rest were exported to other markets.

This is impressive in itself, but China has a massive automotive market. How significant are these EV volumes within the market?

It turns out that electric vehicles just reached a tipping point in China.

According to registration data from the C hina Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), electric vehicle sales have achieved over 50% market share for each of the last five months.

Year-to-date, electric vehicles market share currently sits at 51% of new car sales in China. This is often viewed as a tipping point that quickly leads to electric vehicle sales dominating the entire market.

For example, EV sales reached over 50% market share in Norway in 2020 and by 2024, they were at 90%.

Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are also growing rapidly and already account for the majority of EV sales in China.

BEVs hold 31% market share of China’s passenger vehicle market.

Electrek’s Take

This is truly impressive. The world’s largest car market has an EV market share of over 50%. It shows the power of China. When it says “go, we are going electric”, they go electric.

They are also producing increasingly better products because EV manufacturers in China operate in the world’s most competitive EV market.

There are numerous models available, and it’s unlikely to be sustainable, but the best will rise to the top, and then they will set their sights on conquering overseas markets, which some of them are already doing.

It doesn’t bode well for automakers in North America and Europe unless they learn from China and commit fully to electric vehicles.

For example, Tesla, the largest EV company outside of China, has seen its sales decline in China year-to-date amid the surge in EV sales in the country. This is not a good sign. Tesla is not as competitive within China, even when producing its EVs locally, as it is outside of China, where the EV competition is less.

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Environment

This is the new Tesla Model Y Performance, coming to Europe in Sept.

Published

4 hours ago

August 29, 2025

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This is the new Tesla Model Y Performance, coming to Europe in Sept.

Tesla has announced the Model Y Performance, available in Europe starting in September.

The Model Y Performance is now out in Europe, after Tesla teased a Friday announcement earlier this week. The teaser went out from Tesla’s Europe/Middle East account, but the release seems to only be in Europe, for now.

Tesla updated its European configurator today with the new Model Y Performance, along with details on what sort of upgrades the car gets over the other trim levels of the Model Y.

The basic headline stat is that the Performance model brings 0-100km/h (0-62mph) times down from 4.8 to 3.5 seconds, quite a leap (or 3.3 seconds for 0-60mph). This is thanks to the increased 460hp available on the Model Y Performance.

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That higher level of horsepower doesn’t seem to greatly affect efficiency, though, as the car is still capable of 580km (360mi) range on the WLTP cycle – which, keep in mind, is more lenient than the EPA cycle. It also hasn’t lost much charging speed, according to Tesla, with the ability to add 243km (151mi) of range in 15 minutes – a better measure of efficiency, given Tesla doesn’t specify its battery capacities anymore. Though it does say it’s using “new, high-voltage battery cells.”

But the performance upgrade isn’t just more horsepower and better 0-60 times, there are some other design, interior and performance touches.

The Performance model comes with 21″ “Arachnid 2.0” wheels, a new wheel design, along with redesigned front and rear bumpers which look more aggressive and less flat.

model y performance front bumper
model y juniper front bumper
model y performance rear bumper
model y juniper rear bumper

On the inside, Tesla has added performance badging, reminiscent of the “Plaid” theme it has used on other performance vehicles, and has slightly increased the size of the front touchscreen (from 15.4 to 16 inches), with higher resolution to boot.

The front seats get an improvement, with adjustable thigh extensions for those with particularly long legs.

In terms of performance changes, Tesla added updated suspension to the Model Y Performance with electronic dampers. We saw this on the recent Model Y L which earned praise for its driving dynamics, despite being full of 6 adult passengers.

The Model Y performance includes a new mode which Tesla calls “Stability Assist Mode,” which it says allows drivers to “Customize your traction and control. Choose between Standard, Reduced or Off to give your vehicle more or less traction according to your driving style and terrain.”

This sounds like a performance tuning of the car’s stability control systems – stability control can apply brakes to individual wheels to help correct over/understeer, but can get in the way in performance driving applications.

There may be other performance-related options in there, but Tesla isn’t telling us about them yet – merely referring to them as “drive modes.”

While nobody has gotten their hands on the Model Y Performance for a driving review yet, the Model 3 Performance earned immediate rave reviews from most of those who drove it. It’s quite the performance package, and there’s pretty much nothing out there with the same sort of specs on offer for that price, gas or electric (though personally, I prefer rear-wheel drive cars and was a bit disappointed by the slightly slower steering rack post-Highland refresh).

So if the chunkier Model Y Performance can turn out similar dynamics as Tesla’s sport sedan, it will be interesting to see how it does against the likes of the Ioniq 5N and such.

As for whether or when we’ll get this model in the US: the Model Y Performance release is similar to how the Model 3 Highland and Model Y Juniper refreshes got released, each hitting Europe first before North America. However, the Model 3 Performance didn’t get the same treatment, so it’s interesting to see Europe getting the Performance Model Y first in this instance. We’ll have to see if a North American Model Y Performance release is imminent, or if it might take a few months like the Highland and Juniper did. Stay tuned.

The Model Y Performance will start shipping in September, and starts at €62k (~$73k) in Germany, with local prices varying from country to country but generally staying somewhere in that range. Head on over to Tesla’s site to check out prices in your territory (change regions/language in the upper-right of the website).

Electrek’s Take

Now here’s the question: can this help to reverse the negative momentum Tesla has in Europe?

Despite EV sales surging all across Europe, Tesla sales keep dropping, and the reason for the decline is almost entirely because of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is destroying Tesla’s brand and making it more difficult for Tesla to conduct business.

Sales are up in only a few European countries – like Norway, where we imagine this model will be plenty popular enough. And the Model Y Juniper refresh, released at the beginning of this year, hasn’t stopped the bleeding (in fact, the bleeding started right around when it was released in January… but that was probably less due to the car itself, and more due to Musk’s unambiguous Nazi salutes).

A new, whiz-bang, more expensive model will probably help with margins, and will allow some people to forget the tarnish that Musk has brought to Tesla’s reputation. It might even be the bump Tesla needs to turn around the quarter, which ends in a month, given Tesla said Performance Model Ys will be available before the end of September (where there will also likely be a sales boost in the US, due to the upcoming end of federal tax credits, an end which Musk himself stupidly enabled).

But generally, to stop a sales decline, you need to bring in base consumers, not the relatively fewer high-end ones. We very much doubt that the reason for Tesla’s decline over the last 7 months was because of the lack of a performance model – so this might help a bit, but the deeper issue is Tesla’s bad CEO.

Nevertheless, if you’re one of the ones who can look past Musk’s actions (I can’t), feel free to use our referral code.

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Environment

Stellantis reveals stylish, affordable, capable EV – why can’t the US have it?

Published

14 hours ago

August 28, 2025

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Stellantis reveals stylish, affordable, capable EV – why can't the US have it?

Chic and all-electric DS Automobiles No4 to cost from £36,995

Chrysler parent company Stellantis is sinking billions on electric Jeeps and Chargers that no one wants, but the they’ve developed market-leading EVs in Europe, and this latest, £36,995 DS Automobiles No4 is exactly the sort of electric crossover that could rejuvenate the brand’s American prospects. The only question now is: why won’t they bring it here?

Both the Dodge and Jeep-branded Stellantis EVs are being offered with huge discounts in a bid to generate some kind of market interest, but the company’s American product and marketing teams seem to be deeply confused about what the market actually wants. Over in Europe, though, Stellantis’ EVs are hot sellers – and this latest five-passenger crossover from the company is expected to steal even more sales from the Model Y.

The new all-electric No4 E-Tense model from Stellantis’ French brand DS Automobiles will be offered at three trim levels starting with the Pallas at £36,995 (approx. $48K US), rising to £39,160 for the Pallas+ and topping out at £41,860 (approx. $56K US, before incentives get applied) for the range-topping Etoile.

All three trims use a front-mounted electric motor rated at 213 hp, drawing from a 58.3‑kWh battery pack. That setup delivers up to 280 miles on the WLTP cycle (about 240 miles by EPA estimates). That feels like a lot of miles from a relatively small battery, aided no doubt by the DS No4’s aerodynamic. Inside the No4’s sculpted flanks is enough room for five adults and a bunch of their stuff, as well as an incredibly sexy dash and infotainment layout that (in the official press photos, at least) seems positively slathered in Alcantara (think “vegan suede”).

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With 120 kW fast charging capabilities, the No4’s battery pack can replenish from 20 to 80 percent in under 30 minutes. Thanks to built‑in V2L/V2X tech, the No4 can also supply power back to external devices.

Electrek’s Take

I think it would be a hit. As for why the marketing gurus at whatever’s left of the old Chrysler corporation seem to think an electric muscle car that no one asked for or a Dodge-branded Alfa Romeo that no one will ever ask for is a better use of their marketing dollars – that’s simply beyond me.

Maybe you guys know? Check out these photos of the new DS No4, then scroll on down to the comments and let us know what you think of Stellantis’ US product plans, and whether or not they messed up canceling the Airflow after all.

SOURCE | IMAGES: DS Automobiles.

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Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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