Good morning.Several countries summoned their Israeli ambassadors in response to the arrest of pro-Palestinian activists who were sailing towards Gaza as part of a “freedom flotilla”, and their subsequent taunting – as they knelt on the floor with their hands tied – by the Israeli security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Taoiseach Micheál Martin last night said the behaviour of the Israeli minister was “disgusting” and “disgraceful”.“It’s a blight on the Israeli government and other European leaders are likewise calling this out,” Martin said, adding that he would seek to get broader agreement in Europe on reviewing trade relations under the European Union-Israeli Association Agreement.“It’s no longer tenable that it would be business as usual with Israel, given its scant regard for European Union citizens. The right to protest is a sacred one, within any democracy. The flotilla was in international waters and people were essentially abducted by the Israeli government on the high seas,” Martin said.Thirteen Irish citizens are understood to have been detained by the Israel Defense Forces, including Dr Margaret Connolly, a sister of President Catherine Connolly.Report here. ***Be afraid. Yesterday’s news that tech giant Meta would cut 350 jobs from its Dublin operation was a lot more than expected – 20 per cent of the workforce as opposed to the 10 per cent expected – and set off alarm bells in Government about further job losses in the sector. There is a general expectation that the rollout of AI in the coming years will clobber some jobs – not just in tech but in white collar areas like consulting, law and accounting. Nobody really knows what’s coming. Some tech industry sources have told the Government that as many as 80 per cent of tech jobs could go in the next 10 years. Not all predictions are as apocalyptic. But most of them are not good. It’s our lead story this morning.***Opposition to Government: we told you so on rents. There were bad tempered exchanges in the Dáil yesterday between (you’ve guessed it) Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin, as the Opposition sought to hold the Government to account for the surge in rents reported by Daft.ie yesterday.“You have nowhere to hide,” Mary Lou McDonald told him. “The highest rents on record and the highest level of evictions since the famine.”“Just plain stupid to go on about the highest evictions since the famine,” responded Martin, and as Eoin Ó Broin got stuck in, “You have no substance”.Mary Lou called Martin a “sleeveen”, or, in the first official language, a “slíbhín”.Marie O’Halloran’s report is here. ***RTÉ bosses made the now familiar journey to Leinster House yesterday to answer questions at the Oireachtas media committee about recent controversies involving the reclassification of Derek Mooney as one of the station’s top earners. A wheeze of treating him as a producer rather than a presenter had kept him off the list before. Director general Kevin Bakhurst – reasonably – told committee members that once they found the issue, they acted to correct it. Did Bakhurst give a reasonable account of himself? Yes. Were deputies happy? They were not. Have we heard the last of this? We have not. Jack Horgan-Jones has your debrief. Miriam Lord also observed.***It’s the final day of campaigning in the two byelections. Party leaders will be doing a frantic final round of canvassing today – the elections are expected to be tight, and every vote will count. Polls open at 7am tomorrow. Lots of canvass reports on irishtimes.com, including one with Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas. Best readsCracking yarn from Martin Wall.Home to vote? That’s against the law.Ken Early – the best soccer writer on these islands – on how Arsenal won the Premier League.Denis Staunton on the visits of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to China. If you don’t subscribe to his daily briefing, you should.PlaybookAfter yesterday’s lengthy debate on neutrality (nobody changed their minds), it’s foreign affairs questions first up this morning. After a break for questions to Dara Calleary (wearing his rural development hat), Helen McEntee is back in the hot seat in place of Simon Harris at Leaders’ Questions, who will be off chivvying unsuspecting Galwegians for votes for Seán Kyne.After lunch, Jim O’Callaghan will introduce the Guardianship of Infants Amendment Bill, dubbed “Valerie’s law”, which would allow a court to strip guardian rights from a parent who has killed a child’s other parent.It’s a short day in the Seanad, even by the upper house’s standards. Commencement matters, the Order of Business, a motion without debate, and er that’s it. Adjournment at 11.30am. Plenty of time for a proper lunch.In the committees, the public accounts committee meets every Thursday morning and today it’s the turn of officials from the climate and energy department to be grilled on their vote. There are other meetings of the joint education and disabilities committee, the Travellers’ issues committee and the Seanad select committee on EU scrutiny. Full details here.Elsewhere, Taoiseach Micheál Martin will be at the Élysée Palace in Paris to meet French president Emmanuel Macron. There are various other engagements in Paris during the day before he heads to Rome to meet the Pope and the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni tomorrow.