Tel Aviv Gay Pride Parade, 2015. Photo: Wikipedia

One might have assumed that the first-ever transgender beauty pageant in Israel (and presumably the first in the entire Middle East) would have been a newsworthy story for the self-styled “standard-setter of international journalism” — the BBC.

However, last weekend’s event received no coverage on BBC News’ English-language website.

The event took place in Tel Aviv, at the beginning of the 2016 Pride Events in Tel Aviv. The winner was 21-year-old Ta’alin Abu Hanna, a Christian Arab from Nazareth.

The Times of Israel noted:

A Christian Arab-Israeli ballet dancer, Abu Hanna told reporters she is “proud to be an Israeli Arab,” noting, “If I had not been in Israel and had been elsewhere — in Palestine or in any other Arab country — I might have been oppressed or I might have been in prison or murdered.”

One BBC department did, however, report on the competition in its earlier stages and, interestingly, that was BBC Arabic.