A Brooklyn-based Hasidic newspaper removed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and another woman from the now-iconic photo of the Obama national security team watching the raid that killed Osama bin Laden from the White House Situation Room.

The original photo, taken as the raid was occurring, famously shows Clinton in the center of the room, with her hand over her mouth. But the newspaper Der Tzitung, described by the Jewish Week as "ultra-Orthodox," has a policy of never printing photos of women in its pages because it thinks they could be sexually suggestive. Thus, Clinton and counterterrorism director Audrey Tomason, who was seen standing at the back of the room, were removed from the picture.

The blogger Failed Messiah was the first to notice the Photoshopping.

UPDATE: Der Tzitung sent a statement to the press, apologizing for altering the photo—which the White House had forbidden news outlets from doing—and explaining why they had removed Clinton and Tomason.

“In accord with our religious beliefs, we do not publish photos of women, which in no way relegates them to a lower status," the statement said in part. "... Because of laws of modesty, we are not allowed to publish pictures of women, and we regret if this gives an impression of disparaging to women, which is certainly never our intention. We apologize if this was seen as offensive.” Read the full statement here.

See the Photoshopped version:



See the original:



WATCH: Simulation of how the raid went down



