Female journalists covering Pence in Israel forced to stand behind male colleagues [View all]
Source: Washington Post
Female journalists covering Pence in Israel forced to stand behind male colleagues
By Ruth Eglash January 23 at 11:24 AM
JERUSALEM If theres one thing female journalists covering the trip of Vice President Pence to Israel will remember it is the special treatment they received, first by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus security detail and second, in their unique vantage point while covering Pence's visit to the Western Wall on Tuesday.
At Netanyahus office on Monday morning, a visiting female journalist from Finlands state television was asked to remove her bra during an overly zealous and demeaning security check. When she refused, she was prevented from covering Pence's news conference with Netanyahu.
Then, on Tuesday, female journalists were particularly perturbed to discover that they had been relegated to covering Pences spiritual stop at the Western Wall, one of Judaisms holiest sites, from the other side of a fence.
The Western Wall the outer wall of the raised esplanade that is called the Temple Mount by Jews and al-Haram al-Sharif by Muslims is currently under the authority of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Western Wall Heritage Foundation. According to custom, the plaza is divided by gender, with men praying on one side of a barrier and women on the other. ... For Pence's visit to the wall, the foundation set up two platforms side by side straddling the barrier. As Pence prayed on the mens side, however, it was impossible for the female journalists to see above the cameras and microphones held by their male colleagues.
....
Ruth Eglash is a correspondent for The Washington Post based in Jerusalem. She formerly a reporter and senior editor at the Jerusalem Post and freelanced for international media. Follow @reglash
https://twitter.com/reglash/
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/23/for-female-journalists-strip-searches-and-segregation-mar-pences-visit-to-israel/
Retweeted by David Fharenthold: https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold
9:51 AM - 23 Jan 2018
Link to tweet
= new reply since forum marked as read
