Palestinians are using the viral smartphone game Pokemon Go, that has taken the world by storm, to highlight their political grievances, News.com.au reported on July 19.
While seemingly innocuous at first, the game has been subject to a number of conspiracy theories, including in China and also among Egyptian security forces, which claims its links to the CIA threatens Egypt's national security.
But now Pokemon Go is being used as a way to showcase the injustice Palestinians face under Israeli military occupation. Although it has not officially been released in the region, tech-savvy users have managed to cheat the system and download the game.
One user tweeted an image of Pikachu, a species of Pokemon, lying among rubble in a destroyed Gazan house, with the health status of the creature describing it as “Dead.” The tweet by Salim Kassam read: “What #PokemonGo looks like in Gaza, Palestine.”
Another image being shared widely depicts a rare Charizard Pokemon that is out of reach because it is on the other side of Israel's infamous apartheid wall that separates Israeli territory from the Palestinian West Bank.
Sharing the image, Said Shoaib tweeted: “When you play Pokemon Go in #Palestine.”
Facebook user Abd Elrahman Salayma, who lives in Hebron in the West Bank, joked: “There is a pokémon down the street in the settlement … how the hell am i going to catch it?”
Another Twitter user commented that Israel does not need the game as it already “hunts Palestinians for fun. With 99.7% conviction rate of Palestinians by Israel … gotta catch 'em all!”
[Abridged from TeleSUR English.]
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