(Courtesy Anat Cohen)

Thirty-eight Israeli women posed semi-nude on Saturday in Tel Aviv in a gesture of solidarity with Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, the Egyptian activist who posted nude photos  of herself on her blog last week and was widely criticized, the Israeli news site Ynet reported.

“I felt that when a liberal, enlightened woman in Cairo cannot express herself and gets threats from her state, I should show solidarity,” Or Tepler, the photo’s organizer, told Ynet.

Tepler, 28, created a Facebook event inviting women to gather and pose for a photo “to show support in a non-violent and legitimate way for a woman who is just like us – young, ambitious, full of dreams,” according to Ynet.

The women are seen holding a banner saying “Love Without Limits” (in Hebrew) and “Homage to Aliaa Elmahdi. Sisters in Israel.”

Elmahdi has not reacted publicly to the photo. Ynet said an email Tepler sent to Elmahdi was unanswered.

A question posted to Elmahdi’s Facebook page asking for comment on the Israeli photo was unanswered.

The photo adds another layer to the already complicated story of Elmahdy’s post and the reaction to it, a story often pitting individual rights, gender, religion and Egyptian politics against each other.

Many Egyptian liberals denounced Elmahdy, either for violating Egyptian norms against nudity or for giving hard-line conservatives a campaign boost just before crucial parliamentary elections.