On Pence's trip to Israel, women journalists like Andrea Mitchell were constantly required to stand behind the male journalists. No exceptions. Netanyahu's security detail made sure that women towed the imaginary line. At the Western Wall, women journalists were on the other side of a fence, peering in. The image is taken by a woman journalist, who basically seeks the backs of men.

Tal Schneider, a prominent Israeli journalist, tweeted: “Separation at the Western Wall. The women stuck in isolation and cannot photograph, work. Women journalists are second-class citizens. The American women photographers are frantically yelling at the representatives of the White House. #PenceFence reported The Washington Post.

Reporter Noga Tarnopolsky called the situation “a disgrace.”

“I have covered many visits; this was an aberrant first,” she tweeted.

The “Pence Fence” fiasco happened the day after a Finnish female journalist in Israel was reportedly strip searched and told to remove her bra during a security check. The journalist is of Palestinian descent. According to reports, she refused to comply and was barred from visiting the prime minister’s office to cover Pence’s arrival on Monday.

Haaretz reports that the "last-minute public relations black eye" was avoidable. "It seemed that the American embassy in Israel, which set up the press arrangements in cooperation with the rabbinical authorities at the Wall had paid little attention to the grumbling of female journalists back in May, when U.S. President Donald Trump and his family visited the wall. During that visit, too, women and men, including journalists, were completely separated, the women restricted behind what is known as a “mechitza” - a barrier separating the sexes, intended to allow each gender to focus on praying undistracted."

When the Trump contingent visited the Western Wall, the group included Orthodox Jews Jared Kushner and Ivanka and the custom of separation was required. However, writes Haaretz, there was no need to separate the women journalists during the Mike Pence visit because the entire site had been cleared for the VIP visitors. ". . . while Karen and Mike Pence may be religious and used the time at the Wall to pray - there are no strictures on Evangelical Christians requiring them to pray only in the company of their own sex.

It's pure politics, writes Haaretz, citing the ongoing battle between ultra-Orthodox Jews and the Jewish feminist group "Women of the Wall," together with the Reform and Conservative movements, locked in an ongoing battle over policy and procedures at the Western Wall.

We'll see if women are blotted out of the Israeli photos, as Hillary Clinton was from the US situation room the night Bin Laden died. Now THAT was fake news!!! Then again, if they are always behind the men -- on the entire Israeli trip -- then a mere crop takes women out of the scene. "

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