Miss Iraq’s family flees after her selfie with Miss Israel

Miss Iraq’s family have been forced to flee the country after the beauty queen posed for a selfie with Miss Israel last month, prompting fury in Baghdad.

The picture shows Iraq’s Sarah Idan and Israel’s Adar Gandelsman, representing their countries at the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas in the US.

Their selfie appeared on Idan’s Instagram page with references to promoting ‘peace and love’ – but it soon sparked a social media backlash.

There was so much anger towards the image in Iraq that Idan’s family was forced to flee the country in fear, Gandelsman told Israeli TV.

A picture of Iraq’s Sarah Idan (right) and Israel’s Adar Gandelsman (left), representing their countries at the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas in the US

She said that ‘people made threats against her and her family that if she didn’t return home and take down the photos, they would remove her (Miss Iraq) title, that they would kill her.’

‘Out of fear, they left Iraq at least until the situation calms down,’ she added, according to the Times of Israel.

Idan, who now lives in the US, had decided to post the picture to show that ‘it’s possible to live together’, Gandelsman said.  

More than 3,600 ‘likes’ greeted their picture, but it also triggered an avalanche of comments, some positive and others negative in a country that does not recognise Israel, with which it is still technically at war.

In a response in Arabic, 27-year-old Idan said Gandelsman told her ‘she hopes that one day there will be peace between the two religions (Judaism and Islam) and that her children will not have to do military service’.

‘She asked for a photo and I agreed, saying that I too hoped for peace and wanted to help pass on the message,’ added Idan, who said she had served with both the US and Iraqi armies.

‘This picture doesn’t mean I support the Israeli government or its polices towards Arab countries. I apologise to everyone who saw it as an insult to the Palestinian cause – this was not its purpose.’

One online response, from Isra al-Jabri, read: ‘Your peace with Israel, which has burned the Arab world for its own interests, does not honour us…’

The picture posted on Instagram by Iraq's Sarah Idan with Adar Gandelsman of Israel

The picture posted on Instagram by Iraq’s Sarah Idan with Adar Gandelsman of Israel

‘I respect pacifist Jews who oppose the state of Israel, but we don’t want their peace built on the ruins of our country,’ Jabri added.

However, Samah al-Meshhadani believed that Miss Iraq had ‘made good use of this story’.

‘Maybe she will succeed in improving our relations with Israel so we become friends, who knows?’

Idan, a Muslim, was born and raised in Baghdad. Following the US-led invasion in 2003, she worked with the American military from 2008.

She later moved to the United States and got a degree in Los Angeles.

Gandelsman, 19, also posted a picture with Idan on her own Instagram account.

‘This is Miss Iraq and she’s amazing,’ the Israeli wrote.

In 2014, her country’s Miss Universe contestant provoked uproar by posing with her counterpart from Lebanon, another Arab country with which the Jewish state is still technically at war.



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