Naked blogger receives support in kind

Israeli women show solidarity with the young Egyptian blogger Aliaa Magda Elmadhy, who stripped naked and posted a photograph of herself recently (EPA)

Israeli women have posed naked to show solidarity with Aliaa Mahdy, an Egyptian girl who attracted a slew of death threats after posting a naked self-portrait on her blog to protest against intolerance towards women.

Or Tepler, the Israeli behind the photoshoot, said she was shocked by the reaction to the photo. "I felt that when a liberal, enlightened woman in Cairo cannot express herself ... I should show solidarity," she told Israeli news site Ynet.

Ms Mahdy's act has been condemned on both sides of the political divide in Egypt. The Israeli shoot risks further inflaming public feeling, given the widespread hostility towards the Jewish State in Egypt.