""#Siege" deprives #Gaza #parkour team of international competition" https://t.co/N8jo975hAq RT pic.twitter.com/FqLCw3TDD7
— Chris Gunness (@ChrisGunness) January 9, 2016
The article he links to shows how every news story about Gazans must adhere to a strictly anti-Israel narrative - and how even ordinary Palestinians know what they can and cannot say to the media in order to enforce the single-minded desire to demonize Israel at every opportunity.
Invitations to take part in international competitions and events soon followed. “Unfortunately, the strict Israeli siege prevents us from accepting them,” lamented Lubbad. Last November, two members of Three Run Gaza parkour team qualified to take part in a championship in Qatar; they couldn’t get out of Gaza in order to take part.Notice what is missing?
As Mohamed Lubbad puts it, “All of our dreams end on the doorstep of the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.”
Any mention of Egypt.
Egypt's restrictions on Gazan travel is an order of magnitude worse than Israel's - even though Egypt is a neighboring, purportedly friendly Arab nation.
But mentioning Egypt would water down the anti-Israel nature of the article, which is of course what this article is really about - not parkour, not sport, not freedom of movement, but criticism of Israel.
Lubbad knows that Egypt's restrictions on travel are worse than Israel's, but he won't dare mention it - proving that he is less interested in his sport than he is in weaponizing it against Israel.
And this purposeful misuse of human interest stories is why UNRWA's Chris Gunness chooses to tweet them, and never anything negative about Egypt or how other Arab nations mistreat Palestinians.