Manama: Gulf social media users have poured scorn on online claims that Saudi state television blurred out Michelle Obama as she made a public appearance in Riyadh with her head uncovered.
The US First Lady accompanied her husband President Barack Obama to the Saudi capital where they met the new Saudi king Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.
The claims were mentioned in reports that emerged on Tuesday following the visit by Obama to Riyadh where he had talks with King Salman.
However, Saudis said that the reports were erroneous and that the Saudi television beamed the welcome at the airport without blurring or leaving out the First Lady.
Pictures posted by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) included close shots of Michelle Obama alongside her husband and Saudi leaders.
Ahmad Qushmaq, a Saudi blogger, said that people just needed to watch the official broadcast, posting a link to the clip taken off Saudi national television.
Saudi Arabia did not issue an official comment on the Obama deletion allegations and the media have opted to ignore it.
However, the Saudi embassy in Washington posted on its Twitter account that “report by Bloomberg View’s Josh Rogin that Saudi TV ‘blurred’ image of First Lady Michelle Obama is FALSE. Should check facts, not Facebook.”
Report by Bloomberg View's Josh Rogin that Saudi TV "blurred" image of First Lady Michelle Obama is FALSE. Should check facts, not Facebook— Saudi Embassy (@SaudiEmbassyUSA) January 27, 2015
In a another tweet, the embassy said that it was “too bad Bloomberg did not have someone monitor Saudi TV as other news outlets did.”
Too bad Bloomberg did not have someone monitor Saudi TV as other news outlets did. http://t.co/2ZM0vgJs3f— Saudi Embassy (@SaudiEmbassyUSA) January 28, 2015
An article in the Wall Street Journal said “video clips circulated online Tuesday that purported to show that Saudi state television blurred out First Lady Michelle Obama at a meeting between President Barack Obama and the new Saudi king.”
“However, observers of the live broadcast — including a Wall Street Journal reporter in the country — said that there was no blurring of Mrs Obama, and that the broadcast showed her shaking hands with King Salman.
The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment, it added.
In a statement provided to Bloomberg View, the embassy’s information director said: “Saudi TV has been showing the total arrival ceremony at the airport and at the Palace and nowhere is anything blurred.”
Various clips posted of the ceremony elsewhere show no blurring of Mrs. Obama or of her handshake with the new king, the report said.
Mohammad Ghatam, a blogger, said that Michelle Obama was not the first high-profile woman to visit Riyadh.
“Lady Diana was there back in 1986 as part of a multi-state tour to the Middle East,” he said. “She was of course modestly dressed, but she did not wear a headscarf and there was no fuss whatsoever,” he said.
Mohammad Jaber found the blurring out allegations “totally ridiculous”.
“This is a very cheap shot by some people who are looking to stir trouble or target Saudi Arabia and Muslims,” Mohammad, an analyst in Bahrain, said. “We are no longer shocked or surprised by such attempts because they denote a sick mentality that we do not wish to dignify with reactions or serious comments.
"I wonder where these people who wish to propagate that Saudi Arabia is against women when HaMevaser, a newspaper in Israel this month altered a picture of the march in Paris to remove Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. She was removed even though the whole world saw that she was right there next to the president of France marching through the streets of Paris. They also deleted Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, and Simonetta Sommaruga, the president of Switzerland.”
Saudis have also dismissed allegations that Michelle Obama’s looks made headlines in their country.
A hashtag about her hair not being covered was used on Twitter, but Saudis said they were not behind it.
Several users criticised Michelle for not covering her hair, presenting several social and religious arguments and claiming that she had covered it while she was in Indonesia.
However, others said that she was free to cover or not cover and that the Indonesia episode was when she entered a mosque.
“People visiting mosques must be appropriately dressed, just like women visiting churches in Italy for instance are required to cover their bare arms and shoulders,” Jaber said.
