A photograph featuring a smiling Miss Lebanon and Miss Israel at the Miss Universe contest has created a stir in Lebanon, with some saying their country’s contestant should be stripped of her title for consorting with ‘the enemy’, reported Reuters.
Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, posted a photo of herself and Miss Lebanon, Saly Greige, together at pageant preparations in Miami, where the winner will be picked on January 25. Griege defended herself on the photo-sharing service Instagram on Saturday, in the wake of demands from Lebanese netizens that she lose her title for contacts with a member of the enemy state.
“Since the first day of my arrival to participate in Miss Universe, I was very cautious to avoid being in any photo or communication with Miss Israel, who tried several times to take a photo with me,” Greige said. “I was having a photo with Miss Japan and Miss Slovenia, and suddenly, Miss Israel jumped in and took a selfie, and uploaded it on her social media,” she added.
Matalon responded to the controversy herself on Sunday, saying it made her ‘sad’, reported AFP. “It doesn’t surprise me, but it still makes me sad. Too bad you cannot put the hostility out of the game,” she wrote in English and Hebrew.
Israel occupied parts of Lebanon for 22 years until 2000, but the two countries are still technically at war and their armies occasionally skirmish along the UN-designated withdrawal line. Israel fought a bloody war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah in 2006, which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. The Lebanese risk prison time if they call or travel to Israel, while all Israeli products are banned in Lebanon.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.
Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.