Nude model’s Western Wall photo shoot sparks anger

A Belgian artist has faced a backlash in Israel after posing nude in
front of one of Judaism’s most sacred sites. Marisa Papen posted the
image of herself reclining naked on a rooftop overlooking the Western
Wall in Jerusalem. The rabbi of the site described the incident as
“grave and lamentable”. Last year, Ms Papen was briefly detained after
taking naked photos at an ancient Egyptian temple in Luxor. In a post
on her personal website on Saturday entitled “The Wall of Shame”, the
model said her experiences in Egypt had made her want “to push the
boundaries [sic] of religion and politics even further… [by] showing
my personal religion in a world where freedom is becoming a very
luxurious thing”. She said her three-day visit to Israel had coincided
with the 70th anniversary of its founding, and the controversial
opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem in May. Photos from the trip
showed the model in the Dead Sea and straddling an Israeli flagpole.
But the most provocative image was of Ms Papen posing naked in view of
the Western Wall. It is a remnant from the time of the biblical second
Jewish temple and the most sacred place where Jewish people can pray.
Jewish religious authorities were quick to condemn the photograph. The
Rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovich, told Yedioth Ahronoth
newspaper: “This is an embarrassing incident, grave and lamentable,
which offends the sanctity of the site and the feelings of those who
visit the holy places.”