A conservative Jewish newspaper edited a picture of world leaders rallying in anti-extremism solidarity in Paris last week, manipulating female politicians, including one of the most powerful people on the planet, Angela Merkel, out of the picture.
The German Chancellor, along with the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs Federica Mogherini and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt all vanished from the already famous photograph in the Israeli Haredi “HaMevaser” (The Announcer) paper.
Images of women are usually completely absent from the conservative publication, which refers to protecting female modesty as the reason for its men-only visual world. First spotted by a religion reporter on the Hebrew-language Walla! website, the manipulation sparked condemnation in international media.
Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, Haaretz, called the incident “infuriating and shocking.” It “deserves to be called out – like denying the fact that in the wider world, beyond the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, women do stand on the world stage and shape events,” the paper wrote in a blog.