From Reuters:
Palestinian swimmer Mary al-Atrash can’t wait to make a splash at the Rio Olympics in August…The 22-year-old university graduate’s preparations have been hampered because she does not have an Olympic-sized pool to train in. There are none in the Palestinian territories and she has to settle for a 25-meter pool.
Use of superior Israeli facilities and training partners in nearby Jerusalem where there are several Olympic-sized pools and many swimmers, has not been possible due to the long-standing conflict with Israel.
Mondoweiss broke this story, and the Reuters piece mimics some of the Mondoweiss reporting.
Nearby Jerusalem has better facilities, including several Olympic-sized pools and many swimmers to train with, but due to the Israeli occupation al Atrash is unable to travel to Jerusalem to train.
Unfortunately, Reuters did not bother to do any fact checks.
The Mondoweiss story was published on July 19. The Reuters story was from July 28.
And Israel’s COGAT showed that the Mondoweiss story was a lie on July 20.
FACT CHECK: Mary al-Atrash CAN train for the Olympics in Jerusalem, if she ever applied for a permit.
The Olympic candidate, Mary al-Atrash, claimed she cannot train for the Rio Olympics due to “Israeli Restrictions”. However, we found Mary never applied for a permit to train in Jerusalem in the first place.
Rather than investigate the truth, it’s a shame that media outlets such as Mondoweiss use these stories to paint Israel in a negative light.
We wish Mary the best of luck at the 2016 Rio Olympics and hope she will come train in Jerusalem upon her return.
Reuters parroted the Mondoweiss story without asking Israel whether it was true. Which pretty much tells you all you need to know about Reuters’ lack of objectivity.
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