Sarah Idan was the first woman to represent Iraq in the Miss Universe contest in almost half a century. She went to the competition hoping to make friends. She made one in Miss Israel, and then everything changed—but not in the way she expected.
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Script:
There’s an old saying: Man plans and God laughs. That couldn’t be more true.
My plan was simple enough. Go to the Miss Universe contest as Miss Iraq and represent Iraqi women on the world stage.
My country hadn’t sent anyone to the competition for 45 years, so my being there was a big deal.
The Miss Universe contest brings women together from all over the world—it’s a true celebration of diversity. The world is made up of all kinds of people. I like that.
So, when I met Miss Israel, I said, “Let’s take a picture so our people can see we don’t have a problem and we’re actually ambassadors for peace.”
We took a photo together and I shared it on Instagram. I captioned it “Peace and Love from Miss Iraq and Miss Israel.”
And that was the end of life as I knew it.
Overnight, everything changed. The Miss Iraq organization—under pressure from the Iraqi government—threatened to strip me of my title if I didn’t immediately take down the photo.
But that was nothing compared to the barrage of death threats I received. And not only was I getting them, so was my family.
You see, Iraq doesn’t recognize Israel as a legitimate nation-state. It never has.
There are no diplomatic relations between the countries.
My selfie with Miss Israel was meant to be a gesture of goodwill—the start of something positive.
But many Iraqis and other Arabs took it as a slap in the face. They thought I was betraying the Palestinians, and by extension, all Arabs and Muslims.
As bad as it was for me, it was worse for my family, who were living in Iraq and, suddenly, in very real danger. To protect them, I did what the Miss Iraq mission told me to do. I issued a s..
