This week, Israeli newspapers published inaugural photos of Benjamin Netanyhu's cabinet minus the two female cabinet members. The Associated Press reports that "Ultra-Orthodox newspapers consider it immodest to print images of women."

Yated Neeman, a daily newspaper published the altered photo above and Shaa Tova, a weekly newspaper simply blacked the women out. In contrast, mainstream Israeli newspapers published the original photo and one newspaper published both pictures with the headline "Find the lady".
Most people would probably not suggest that Playboy needs to be available on newsstands for a society to be normal. However, removing the highest ranking women in a society from pictures is, at the very least, abnormal. "Blacking out" and "photoshopping" women sounds like something from North Korea, not from a US ally.
What are your thoughts?
Best regards,
Jay
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Goes to show there is no equality in the world. We are bound to destroy ourselves unless we become equal across the spectrum.
I have seen a variety of disturbing stories lately. One was how they committed a variety of war crimes recently. Another that they have proved that Israel has nuclear weapons although they knew this for decades but having actual proof means we can no longer legally give them aid. Also we are sending them more arms shipments again which violates many international laws as well as our own laws. Its just a great big ball of fun over there.
I am, to say the least, disgusted. Interesting, Israeli women are good enough to be in the army however. It is backwards, barbaric, very 3rd world-ish type of behavior. I am insulted. We need to demand more from a country we consider our alley.
Talk about being extremely backwards! It is appalling to me that a female can't be in the photo, what is even worse is that she has to put up with it. I for one, would not be able to tolerate that! I am surprised they even let them be on the cabinet in the first place!
unbelieveable.......did they do that with Golda Meier?
weird....they also dropped a few men it looks like. I like to think they just needed to contract the picture...but it's a funny part of the world.
Israel is a parliamentary democracy. In a democracy there is a free press. There are numerous newspapers and media outlets in Israel that have different political and religious views. The ultra orthodox Jews are mostly part of a Hasidic movement that is based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn USA. They separate themselves from mainstream society including Christians, Modern Orthodox Jews, Conservative and Reform Jews.
The religious right party Shas in Israel supported Netanyahu and is part of his right wing coalition. The religious right in Israel is similar to the religious right in the US. The only difference is they are Orthodox Jews not Orthodox Christians.
OK, I had to look at the photos a second time to figure out where the woman on the front row went. It seems she was replaced by a man who I guess was not even present?
Funny, stuipid. Funny because they are so stupid.
I just saw a recent video of about 3 minutes of a single muslim Palestinian woman who was held down and beat over and over again by other muslims. Her cries of pain were too much to bear. So am I upset that someone photo shoped a photo in the Middle East? Not so much
Larry, I agree to an extent. There is no comparison between torture and photoshopping. However, the perception is that the Middle East is filled with sexist, radicals who hate America... except for our biggest ally - Israel.
Exactly Jay and the extreme right in our country is no better. Look how they destroyed this country in the last 8 years. Its no different what they would do here as to what is done there.
Jay - I think that you are applying the actions of a minority to an entire country. Unlike what several who have commented here would try to have everyone believe, this was not a government action, nor is it the belief of the majority of people in Israel. Remember, that Isreal elected Golda Meier Prime Minister in the 60's. In 2008, many so-called liberals had a hard time with Clinton, of course there were also many so called liberals that had a hard time with Obama.
Shane - almost every thing you post is a prime example of your bigotry and willful ignorance.
Mike, if I were trying to apply this to the entire country, I would not have written that "mainstream Israeli newspapers published the original photo"and in the first paragraph, I would not have written that "Ultra-Orthodox newspapers consider it immodest to print images of women".
Having a hard time with Clinton because of gender was not an issue. Clinton had been in Washington for far too long and voters wanted Obama because he was something completely different from 20 years of Clinton & Clinton and Bush & Bush.
Jay,
This is wrong no doubt about it, but where is your outrage that the New York Times burried an acorn story just before the election because it would hure Obama. The only thing this post shows me is that Israel has some biased media, is it any worse than BSNBC,
By the way isn't it great that Oreilly is the # 1 cable news program for 100 months and fox has the top five, in fact fox is the second most watched cable channel period. If Obama does not totally destroy the country(which I think he may) he will be the best thing that ever happened to conservatives.
Jay - here is you closing statement
"Blacking out" and "photoshopping" women sounds like something from North Korea, not from a US ally.
You have now applied it to the country, not just to a small paper.
There were plenty that had a hard time with Clinton because of gender, on the democratic side. Even the liberal mainstream press brought it up on several occasions. Here is a link to a video regarding sexism in the democratic primaries. But then again, like I stated, there was just as much racism on the democratic side also.
Shane-Comparing the right wing to people who beat women in the streets? I have never harmed a woman. Have you ever voted for a democrat president who supports the murder of over 1 million babies every year? I think you may have a problem deciding what is good and what is evil.
Check out a video called Silent Scream on youtube to see what obama voters support.
Hugh, I agree there is a degree of bias in the media in any country. However, removing women from a government picture is not bias, it is repression.
People watch O'Reilly for the same reason as Jerry Springer. Both of their shows are filled with drama and designed to entertain.
Mike, in Israel the Yated Neeman is read by roughly the same percentage of its population as the NY Times is in the United States.
Larry, here's another video showing what McCain voters thought.
Jay - that is still a very small percentage of the country, much less than 1%
Mike, you are correct about the percentage, but it was worth noting the fact that the Yated Neeman and the NY Times have the same market penetration in their respective countries.
Jay - does that mean that whenever the NY Times writes something, regardless of how foolish, bigoted, stupid, whatever, it is representative of policy? It's a red herring.
Mike, not at all - my post specified, via the AP, that "Ultra-Orthodox newspapers consider it immodest to print images of women" and that "mainstream" papers published the originals. While the last sentence was a generalization, it did not divert attention from the fact that 2 Ultra-Orthodox papers published the altered photos. The NY Times would never have gotten away with something this extreme.
Jay - your last sentence made it about a country, not a newspaper. Acrtually about two countries since you somehow made it bring judgement upon the U.S. also.
Jay, it seems the ultra-orthodox Jews are pretty much aligned with their much hated Moslem counterparts, given neither seem to respect women.
Jay , the NY Times is a newspaper of record. The legal definition of a paper of record is that it runs legal notices. The perception of a newspaper of record is that it is professional and a trusted source. The circulation is irrelevant. The National Enquirer has 3x the readership of the NY Times yet it is not considered professional or a trusted source.
Mike, you're really fixated on that last sentence. Was the rest of the blog irrelevant?
Terry, it is unfortunate how that part of the world treats women. The ultra-orthodox papers won't publish pictures of women and as Bill Maher says, the Muslim women are forced to wear "bee keeper" suits!
Mitchell, you make a good point. I'm not familiar with which Israeli papers are considered a newspaper of record vs the ones that are not.
OMG. HA HA. Do I need to buy a beer for the two of you? Lol. WHO CARES. It's just a blog. lmao.