The Miss Universe finals won't take place for another week and a half, but the competition has already started as contestants have reached Thailand to compete for the coveted crown. During an event held this week, each contestant introduced herself, stating her name and the country she represented, before the cameras. This year marks the first-ever participation of "Miss Palestine," Nadeen Ayoub, the Palestinian representative in the contest, already causing discomfort and tension, as Miss Israel Melanie Shiraz is also competing.
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After both representatives, along with nearly 90 other contestants, introduced themselves, they walked to the front of the stage – where contest organizers placed them next to each other, apparently to generate drama and headlines. Those who didn't miss the dramatic moment were social media users, especially pro-Palestinians, who chose to respond to the exchange of glances and tension between the two.
"I love how Miss Palestine looks calm while Miss Israel looks furious," one pro-Palestinian user wrote, while another user responded cynically, "She doesn't even look furious. But why would she be mad at a representative of a country that doesn't exist but still got to participate in the contest?"
Videos uploaded online highlighted Miss Israel Melanie Shiraz's face as she rolls her eyes the moment she sees Miss Palestine Nadeen Ayoub approaching her and smiling at the cameras with obvious artificiality. Other footage of the two shows the Palestinian Nadine standing one step ahead of the Israeli Shiraz.
"Miss Israel's look was childish and out of place. I'm pro-Israel, but politics shouldn't enter the contest," one user claimed, referring to Miss Israel Melanie Shiraz's facial expressions. However, Israeli users defended Miss Israel. "Obviously she looks at her that way. She lies on social media all day and defames her people, it's her right to look at her that way," one user wrote.
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Miss Israel has solid reasons to be upset with Miss Palestine Nadeen Ayoub. Last month, Ayoub published a series of posts about the war on social media, where in one she inflated the number of Palestinian casualties and in another she presented Kfir and Ariel Bibas, the Israeli children murdered in Hamas captivity, as Palestinian victims of the war.
The participation of a first-ever Palestinian representative in the Miss Universe contest was announced for the first time last August, when Ayoub's name also made headlines. However, she doesn't actually reside in the Palestinian Authority territories, but in towers in Dubai, a fact that attracted criticism toward her.
