EILAT, ISRAEL – Former Miss Israel and former Miss Iraq made a cameo at this year’s Miss Universe pageant in the southern Israeli town of Eilat, and spoke about the huge impact an impromptu selfie of the two had when they participated in the global beauty contest in 2017, including death threats and speeches at the United Nations.
Sarah Idan, who grew up in Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein, fled the country after receiving threats that her Iraqi citizenship would be withdrawn because she posted a selfie with Miss Israel.
On Thursday’s preliminary contest at the port of Eilat, Idan explained in a video message, “My family had death threats and had to leave Iran after three days.”
“It started with a photo at Miss Universe and the next thing I know I’m speaking in front of thousands at the UN,” she said. “I’m talking to Arab countries before they even initiated the Abraham Accords and telling them why they need to make peace.”
Miss Israel Adar Gandelsman added: “Without trying, we gave a voice to so many people.”
“We’re pioneers,” Idan said.
Since fleeing Iraq, Idan has made headlines several times for controversial statements against Israel-haters. In 2019, the beauty queen lambasted Rep. Ilhan Omar for trying to push Sharia law onto the U.S. and said that the congresswoman does not represent her as a Muslim.
“In Arab countries, we call her the Muslim Brotherhood,” she said. “I don’t stand for your anti-American, anti-Semitic, Muslim Brotherhood agenda using this democracy to further you and your friends.”
Seriously @IlhanMN this is your intellectual come back?
I said as a MUSLIM! I dont stand for your anti-American, anti-Semitic, Muslim Brotherhood agenda using this democracy to further YOUR & YOUR FRIENDS Islamic socialism goals of dividing & weakening our country. @SaraCarterDC https://t.co/H4OYrdM9Y6 pic.twitter.com/7CuYDy44DF— Sarai (Sarah Idan) Miss Iraq (@RealSarahIdan) August 8, 2019
At the UN, Idan said that the Israeli-Arab conflict is “deeply rooted in the belief systems taught in Muslim countries, which are antisemitic.”
As Breitbart reported at the time, Idan claimed at a rally in June that a quarter of the global Muslim population are radical Islamists who want to eradicate the U.S. and Israel.
“Radical Islamist ideologies that teach them that Jews are not even human beings. They are Satanic creatures in human form,” Idan said.
She went on to draw a parallel with radical Islam and Nazism, saying: “The amount of antisemitism that exists in radical Islam, it’s crazy. It’s exactly like the Nazi movement and this is why a lot of Islamists have joined their movement with the neo-Nazis – in order to defeat Jews all over the world.”
Miss Universe contestants appear on stage during the preliminary stage of the 70th Miss Universe beauty pageant in Israel’s southern Red Sea coastal city of Eilat on December 10, 2021. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
During her stay in Israel, Idan also defended Israeli security forces for killing a Palestinian terrorist who stabbed a Jewish man outside the Old City of Jerusalem and attempted to attack police officers. Israel came under fire over the killing, with Palestinian officials calling it a “field execution.”
“People who don’t have radical Islamist terrorists in their country stabbing their people every other day because they don’t look Muslims should shut up about Israeli security forces doing their job to protect,” she tweeted. “Did they cry when a Jew was killed in same place 2 weeks ago?”
People who don’t have radical Islamist terrorists in their country stabbing their people every other day because they don’t look Muslims should shut up about Israeli security forces doing their job to protect.
Did they cry when a Jew was killed in same place 2 weeks ago?
— Sarai (Sarah Idan) Miss Iraq (@RealSarahIdan) December 5, 2021
Mandla Mandela — the grandson of South Africa’s first Black president Nelson Mandela — was one of the chief anti-Israel activists who called on his country’s representative, Miss South Africa Lalela Mswane to boycott the pageant in Israel due to the “occupation and cruel treatment of Palestinians at the hands of apartheid Israel regime.”
Idan responded on Twitter: “All I can say is how dare you? How dare you as a man try to tell an organization for women, and women empowerment what to do.”
Mswana eventually defied both homegrown BDS activists and the South African government in taking part in the pageant.
Contestants of the Miss Universe pageant pose for a picture in the waters of the Dead Sea, south of the West Bank city of Jericho, on December 4, 2021 ahead of the 70th Miss Universe event to be held in Israel’s Red Sea resort of Eilat on December 12. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty)
The 24-year-old, who is a qualified lawyer, said she went to “hell and back” with the hate and harassment she received over her choice to take part, but that she doesn’t regret it for a moment.
On the contrary, “If I had not come to Israel to compete in the Miss Universe pageant, I think I would have regretted it for the rest of my life,” Mswane told the Jerusalem Post.
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