Earlier this week, Miss Iraq, Sarah Idan, caused quite the online stir after she instagrammed a photo of herself posing with Miss Israel, Adar Gandelsman, at rehearsals for the Miss Universe pageant, HuffPost Arabi reported.
Idan, who is the first women to represent her country at the competition in 45 years, captioned her post: "Peace and love from Miss Iraq and Miss Israel."
Soon after, the beauty queen's post went viral, sparking outrage among Arab social media users, many of whom reminded her of the fact that Iraq has no diplomatic relations with Israel and deems it an occupying state.
Gandelsman shared a similar image via her Instagram
Both photos sparked fury
While a few saw nothing wrong with the incident
Others were outraged by it
"Miss Iraq smiles while posing with the beauty queen of the occupying, monstrous state at the Miss Universe pageant preparations in Las Vegas. Are people outraged by this in Iraq?"
"You want peace with the enemies, with those who invade lands and murder innocent children"
"Iraq will always stand with the Palestinian cause"
The intense backlash led Idan to issue a statement
Amid the intense online backlash, Idan issued an apology in an Instagram post she shared on Wednesday.
In her statement, the beauty queen said Miss Israel had approached her during a photo session.
"Miss Israel approached me during a photo session. After kindly greeting me, she asked if we could take a photo together and I agreed because I saw it as an opportunity to express our mutual desire for world peace. Her photo of us received praise, while I only got negative comments," her statement read.
"This photo does not mean I condone the Israeli government or its policies. I'd like to apologize to anyone who considered this an insult to the Palestinian cause," she added.
Not a first for an Arab beauty queen
This isn't the first time an Arab beauty queen faces backlash over being photographed with an Israeli beauty queen.
Miss Lebanon 2015, Sally Greige, almost lost her title after a selfie of her posing alongside Miss Israel and two other contestants went viral.
The selfie caused a stir in Lebanon, which officially considers Israel an enemy state, with some Lebanese even calling on authorities to strip Greige of her title.
According to Business Insider, Greige defended herself on Instagram at the time, saying "Matalon had pestered her for a picture together and finally photobombed her."
"Since the first day of my arrival to participate to 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 [sic]," she wrote.
"I was having a photo with Miss Japan, Miss Slovenia, suddenly Miss Israel jumped in and took a selfie, and uploaded it on her social media [sic]," she added.
Despite the controversy, officials at the time decided not to strip Greige of her crown, and she was allowed to continue her term.
