Israeli Newspaper Edits Angela Merkel From Paris March Photo
An Israeli newspaper is gaining international attention after it published a photo of the recent unity march in Paris, but edited out prominent female world leaders from the photo, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The small, ultra-orthodox newspaper Hamevaser reportedly published a photo of the story that had Merkel, as well as Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini cropped out of the frame.
The iconic photo shows world leaders linking arms and marching down the streets of Paris, but the Hamevaser version of the photo shows French president François Hollande and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas standing together in the place where Merkel originally was.
Binyamin Lipkin, editor of Hamevaser, defended his newspaper's decision to edit the photo, saying the publication is family-oriented and must be acceptably modest for children.
"The eight-year-old can't see what I don't want him to see," he told Israel's Channel 10 television station in a recent interview. "True, a picture of Angela Merkel should not ruin the child, but if I draw a line, I have to put it there from the bottom all the way to the top."
The Paris unity march also created controversy for the U.S. after the Obama administration failed to send a high profile representative to march in the solemn event, even though several other countries sent their top representatives.
A White House spokesperson has since confirmed that the U.S. agrees it should have sent a diplomat with a higher profile to attend the march.