Israel's Politics -- Not Religious Laws -- Put Women At Back Of Bus During Pence's Visit To Israel

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. "

Ivanka's NYC Rabbi Condemns Trump's Lack of Moral Clarity On Charlottesville As Richard Spencer Tells Israelis To Trust Him

Rabbi Emeritus Haskel Lookstein of New York, Ivanka Trump's rabbi

Rabbi Emeritus Haskel Lookstein and his successors Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz and Rabbi Elie Weinstock, sent a letter Wednesday night to members of New York's Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun In New York. Rabbi Lookstein oversaw Ivanka's conversion to Judaism in 2010. 

The rabbis said: "We are appalled by this resurgence of bigotry and antisemitism, and the renewed vigor of the neo-Nazis, KKK, and alt-right." The letter continued: "While we avoid politics, we are deeply troubled by the moral equivalency and equivocation President Trump has offered in his response to this act of violence."

Other Jewish leaders spoke out on Wednesday. the Republican Jewish Coalition is calling on the president to “provide greater moral clarity in rejecting racism, bigotry, and anti-Semitism.”

In a statement issued by the group’s national chairman Norm Coleman and executive director Matt Brooks, the RJC made clear it does not agree with Trump’s assertion that there were some “fine people” among the crowd of alt-Right and white supremacists who descended on Charlottesville.

“The Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists are dangerous anti-Semites. There are no good Nazis and no good members of the Klan,” RJC said, adding that in modern America these groups are marginal and “have never been welcome in the GOP.”

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is the largest donor to the Jewish Republican organization, which initially condemned the terror in Charlottesville did not mention Trump by name.  

Related: A Model of Contemporary Jewish Leadership: Haskel Lookstein

Richard Spencer Chides Jews For Not Supporting Him

Richard Spencer, a key figure in the alt-right movement, said in an interview this week on Israeli TV, that Jews should ignore the anti-Semitism of the alt-right and respect with empathy his desire to create a whites-only ethno state. 

“You could say that I am a white Zionist in the sense that I care about my people,” Spencer told Dany Kushmaro, the host on Israel’s Channel 2 News. “I want us to have a secure homeland that is for us and ourselves, just like you want a secure homeland in Israel.”

Kushmaro pressed Spencer on the anti-Semitic chants heard at the white nationalist held in Virginia over the weekend, such as “Jews will not replace us.” White nationalists also brandished swastika flags and held their arms in the Nazi salute at the rally, which later devolved into open brawling and violence.

“Let’s be honest, Jews have been vastly overrepresented in the historical left,” Spencer said. “They’re vastly overrepresented in what you can call the establishment.”

Kushmaro reminded Spencer that he was speaking with a Jew and that the majority of the audience was Jewish. “How should we, how should I, feel?”