Miss Universe: Miss Israel’s glare at Miss Palestine says it all

The presence of Palestine’s first-ever Miss Universe contestant, Nadeen Ayoub, didn’t go down well with the Israeli participant, if pictures and footage from the event in Thailand are anything to go by.

Ayoub, who became “Miss Palestine” in 2022 and is based in Ramallah and Dubai, made her first official appearance this week in the “Universe Ceremony”, a preliminary to her entry into the 21 November competition. She said she was there to “carry the voice” of the oppressed people of Palestine in the midst of Israel’s genocide — particularly women and children:

As Palestine endures heartbreak, especially in Gaza, I carry the voice of a people who refuse to be silenced. I represent every Palestinian woman and child whose strength the world needs to see.

Wearing this sash is an honour, and a responsibility. It carries the weight of generations, the dreams of our daughters, and the strength of a homeland still standing with grace.

Her advocacy work includes her Dubai-based Olive Green Academy, which trains women in environmental activism and digital media.

Miss Universe

Israeli contestant Melanie Shiraz has been derided for her ‘hostile look’ toward Ayoub, as the Palestinian woman waved to the audience — unsurprisingly, since she attacked Ayoub last month in a video on Shiraz’s Instagram for ‘distorting’ the Israeli image:

Shiraz claimed she wasn’t condemning ‘any contestant’, but her video shows and names Ayoub. In a statement accompanying it, she said that “the stories of my people are [being] distorted”:

As an Israeli, and as a representative of Israel, I feel a responsibility to uphold truth, dignity, humanity, and peace. This is not a condemnation of any contestant or organization — it is a commitment to values that must guide us all. When the stories of my people are distorted, I cannot remain silent. I speak to honor victims, preserve dignity, and remind the world that humanity must always rise above politics.

“The rope of lies is short” – Arabic proverb

In her video, Shiraz showed two red-headed children whom she said had been murdered ‘by Hamas’. But Shiraz chose a bad example to hang her hat on. The pair were Ariel and Kfir Bibas and it’s true that they were Israeli – presumably Ayoub mistook them for some of the more than half a million Palestinian kids murdered during Israel’s genocide so far – but their family says that, like almost all the Israeli captives killed in Gaza, they were killed by Israeli bombs; when Israeli PM Netanyahu tried to attach himself to their funeral, the furious family refused him and every Israeli government figure permission to attend. Footage from the 7 October raid showed a Palestinian commander telling his men to make sure the children and their mother were protected:

Like the Bibas children, most of the Israelis who died on 7 October were killed by Israel – a fact admitted early by the IDF and later even by Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister at the time, who admitted earlier this month that Israel had repeatedly issued ‘Hannibal’ orders on 7 October to kill large numbers of Israeli captives along with Palestinian fighters – a fact known since the earliest days of the genocide and one that has been freely discussed by Israeli media for months but continues to be ignored by UK media and the Starmer government.

Whatever your opinion of pageants like the Miss Universe contest, the presence of Nadeen Ayoub and the obvious anger it is causing the Israel lobby is to be welcomed.

Featured image via Instagram screenshot