Israel's grim rendition of Oops! ... I did it again

You wouldn't normally associate Benjamin Netanyahu with Britney Spears. But yesterday, something the Israeli PM said triggered a persistent earworm.

The hook-line of the troubled pop star's 2000 hit song, Oops! ... I Did It Again, kept playing in my head after Bibi described the double-tap killing of 20 Palestinians, including five journalists at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza, as a "tragic mishap".

Oops, he did it again. Added five more to the toll of almost 200 journalists killed since October 7, 2023, and clumsily, almost cavalierly, expressed regret. As Jodie Ginsberg from the Committee to Protect Journalists told the ABC yesterday, a "mishap" is when you spill a cup of tea, not when you kill 20 civilians.

And it's certainly no mishap when the way you killed them was with a method most commonly employed by terrorists: the double-tap. That's when you strike with one explosion, wait until a crowd gathers to attend to the victims, and then detonate another.

The vision of the incident was hard to watch. Rescuers and journalists gathered on the outside stairwell just after the first strike. Moments later, they disappeared in a cloud of dust and smoke as the second strike hit home.

Another investigation has been promised, but Israel's record shouldn't raise any expectation that anyone will be held to account. A recent report by conflict monitoring group Action on Armed Violence claimed nine out of 10 investigations into alleged military abuses in Gaza have either found no fault or been left unresolved.

In the two decades the Committee for Protecting Journalists has been monitoring alleged Israeli abuses against the media, Ginsberg said there was rarely a transparent investigation undertaken. The war in Gaza has been the deadliest conflict for journalists the CPJ has monitored. The committee alleges that at least 26 reporters killed in Gaza have been deliberately targeted, a claim Israel rejects.

We'll never know for sure who coined the phrase "The first casualty in war is the truth" - was it US senator Hiram Johnson in 1918, Aeschylus, or Samuel Johnson?

But we do know that in Gaza, an inordinate number of people who bring us the nightly footage and interviews from inside the besieged enclave, the truth as they see it on the ground in Gaza, have lost their lives doing so. That's why the press vest has now become a protest symbol at marches against the war around the world.

It was the media that brought us the horrifying images of Israelis being taken hostage on October 7, 2023, the interviews with traumatised survivors, the ghastly aftermath of the Hamas rampage, the burnt and blackened homes, and the scattered possessions at the site of the Nova music festival massacre.

And it is the media alerting us to the destruction and deprivation that have followed in Gaza, as well as the huge protests in Israel against the conduct of the war.

Yesterday was an exceptionally busy news day. The deaths of two police officers in an ambush in Victoria and the expulsion of Iranian diplomats over the sponsoring of anti-Semitic attacks in Australia quickly pushed the attack on the Nasser Hospital off the front pages of news websites.

But we shouldn't forget the journalists killed covering one of the 21^st century's bloodiest conflicts and those who'll continue to do so.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Should Israel allow foreign journalists into Gaza to cover the war? Do you have much faith in Israel's repeated assertion that it does not target journalists and other civilians? Has the coverage from inside Gaza shaped your opinions on the way Israel has conducted the war? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

- Australia's top spy agency has found that Iran "directed" at least two anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced, while largely cutting diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic.

- Australia Post has temporarily suspended mail to the US and Puerto Rico in response to major changes to customs and import tariff rules.

- An overhaul of Australia's environmental laws has been accelerated because the "utterly broken" act stands in the way of more housing, renewable energy and stronger environmental protections.

THEY SAID IT: "Australians overwhelmingly just want to see the killing and the cycle of violence stop." - Anthony Albanese

YOU SAID IT: Reducing unnecessary red tape will increase productivity, especially in the construction industry, but until we address the multiple layers of government, we're doomed to see it return.

"The argument that our vast geography requires huge states is redundant given modern technology," writes Mick. "Concentrated urbanisation sees us governed from cities, not by states. One national government backed up by provinces would see the elimination of states and local government areas. Economies of scale would be huge."

Architect Emile is frustrated by red tape: "Under the National Construction Code it now takes about 12 to 20 months of careful focus to build a standard house. Although I have officially 'retired', I still do occasional pro bono projects in my community and recently I had occasion to delve into the NCC to clarify fire-escape provisions. It was not unlike chasing the white rabbit down ever-branching tunnels. What should have taken five minutes left me still in doubt after 20 minutes."

"Regulation usually has a legitimate purpose, mostly to protect the public good and consumers," writes Ian. "In New Zealand, the building industry was deregulated under the Building Act 1991. The following 10 years resulted in tens of thousands of leaky homes, apartments, and schools rotting from the inside. Let's not also forget the flammable cladding turning apartments into death traps, and apartment buildings that have to be abandoned within months of completion due to structural problems. The issue is not more or less regulation. It's regulation fit for purpose."

Bill writes: "Anne Twomey is right: it's all about revenue, and who collects it. I bet the states in 1942 thought the feds would only collect income tax for the duration of World War II. But I don't recall there being a constitutional challenge in 1946. We retain this mess only because of our politicians. Politicians, at various levels of government, are protecting vested interests. And remember, all three parties train their future state and federal politicians in local government."