The first Miss Universe pageant was held in Israel. (File)
Eilat:
Women from 80 countries vie for the Miss Universe crown in the Israeli city of Eilat on Sunday, with some contestants defying boycott pressure in favor of the Palestinians.
The 70th edition of the annual competition, held for the first time in Israel, has also faced complications due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Among the challengers for the top prize are Miss Morocco Kawtar Benhalima and Miss Bahrain Manar Nadeem Deyani, with whom the Muslim-majority nations normalized relations with Israel last year.
South Africa’s Ministry of Sports, Culture and Arts has urged its contestant to stay away from Eilat, citing “the atrocities that Israel has committed against the Palestinians.”
The appeal echoes Palestinian groups begging contestants to avoid the event.
The campaign for Palestinian cultural and academic boycott reads: “We call on all participants to withdraw, to avoid complicity with Israel’s racist regime and Palestinian human rights abuses.” .”
Despite those calls, Miss South Africa Lalela Mswane was in the Red Sea resort city, where the final pageant was conducted the night before the 2021 winner was announced at around 03:00. GMT Monday.
In an interview with AFP in Jerusalem late last month, reigning Miss Universe Andrea Meza, from Mexico, said the pageant should stay away from politics.
“Miss Universe is not a political movement, nor is it a religious movement. It’s about women and what they can contribute.”
Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia, which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, did not send contestants but both cited complications related to the pandemic, not Israel’s rights record. .
The United Arab Emirates, which also normalized relations with Israel last year and where Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will make a historic visit on Sunday, has also not nominated a candidate.
But the UAE said it was “due to time constraints”, in selecting its national winners.
‘Criticism’
Contestants of the competition traveled to Israel late last month and have since toured the sites, sometimes criticized for being culturally insensitive.
At a stopover in Rahat’s Bedouin city, candidates wore robes with traditional Palestinian embroidery while rolling grape leaves – something Miss Philippines Beatrice Luigi Gomez tweeted as “The day in the life of a woman”. Bedouins.”
The Bedouins are a traditionally nomadic people belonging to Israel’s community of Palestinian citizens. They have long complained about discrimination in housing and education.
“Colonialism, racism, cultural appropriation, patriarchy, bleaching, all in one place,” Ines Abdel Razek of the Palestinian Institute of Public Diplomacy advocacy group wrote on Twitter.
Contestants co-owned by Donald Trump before he became president of the United States must be between the ages of 18 and 28 and may have never been married or had children.
According to the organizers, the coronation ceremony will be watched by 600 million spectators in 172 countries.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
