At first glance, this looks like an historic photograph.
It depicts 40 world leaders, dressed in black, arms linked, marching through Paris in a show of solidarity with 1.6million French people and the surviving staff of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
Except … look at it a little closer. See anyone missing? The most powerful women in the Western world, perhaps? That’s right. None of the women shown in the original image are in the frame.
An Israeli newspaper, The Announcer (HaMevaser) – a conservative orthodox Jewish publication – stands accused of editing the women out of the picture.
After printing the doctored image on its front page, the paper has been criticised for showing disrespect for the unity march, which was on Sunday, following the murder by Islamist terrorists of 17 Parisians last week.
The women removed from the picture are German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and European Union foreign affairs and security chief Frederica Mogherini. Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt has been cropped out, so that only her hand remains in the shot, on the picture’s far left.
In the original, Merkel stood between French President Francois Hollande and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
But, from looking at the version which appeared in print, you would be forgiven for imagining that the head of Europe’s biggest economy had been absent. The omission was first highlighted by Israeli news site Walla.com.
Many commentators have condemned the sexist editing. They pointed out the irony of a unity rally, aimed at spreading a message of peace and tolerance, whose image has been tampered with.
In 2011, New York Orthodox newspaper Di Tzeitung removed Hillary Clinton (then US secretary of state) from the famous White House situation room image taken during the mission to kill Osama bin Laden.
It apologised, claiming its policy was not to publish pictures of women on the grounds of “modesty”.
– TIMES LIVE