A controversy erupted at the Miss Universe competition as Miss Palestine Nadine Ayoub took the stage during the national costume segment wearing a robe depicting the Dome of the Rock – an outfit that sparked significant debate online.
Ayoub wore an oriental-inspired look, including a white tank top and white pants adorned with brown and white embellishments. Over this outfit, she wore a white robe with a long train featuring paintings of the Dome of the Rock and Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, alongside olive branches.
As a reminder, Ayoub has received considerable criticism for living in luxury towers in Dubai while representing the Palestinians, and it has now been revealed that the designer she chose is actually an Emirati designer named Navin al-Qadi, based in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, Miss Israel Melanie Shiraz wore a yellow dress to recall the fallen hostages still held in Hamas captivity and the survivors of captivity who were held for two years. A Star of David appeared on her chest area, and red flowers were visible at the bottom of the dress as a tribute to the red anemones in the south. The dress was maxi-length and featured a scarf and a head covering.
The national costume segment takes place every year as part of the Miss Universe competition, during which representatives of different countries take the stage wearing clothing items inspired by their local traditions. This year, the segment became more explosive.
Social media reactions came quickly. "It's not enough that she represents a country that doesn't exist, she has no connection to this country and the symbols she's wearing," one social media user wrote. "That's Jerusalem anyway, it shouldn't appear on their national costume. Simply an infuriating look," another user wrote.
A reminder that Transportation Minister Miri Regev also wore a dress featuring the Dome of the Rock in the past, at the Cannes Film Festival opening during her tenure as culture minister. The dress was designed by Aviad Arik Herman.
This isn't the first time Miss Palestine Nadine Ayoub has sparked controversy since being chosen to represent the Palestinians at the world's biggest beauty pageant. Last month, Ayoub published a series of posts about the war on social media, with one of them inflating the number of Palestinian casualties and another presenting Kfir and Ariel Bibas, the Israeli children murdered in Hamas captivity, as Palestinian victims of the war.
