TEL AVIV – The winner of a Lebanese beauty pageant was stripped of her crown a week after winning the contest when it was discovered she visited Israel last year.
Swedish-Lebanese Amanda Hanna won Miss Lebanon Emigrant 2017 but when organizers discovered she had used her Swedish passport to travel to Israel on an academic visit in 2016 they revoked her title.
“After communicating our decision with Lebanon’s Minister of Tourism, he decided that Hanna should be stripped of her title because her visit to Israel violates our country’s laws,” a statement given by the Festival of Lebanese Emigrants in Dhour Al Choueir to the newspaper Al Modon read.
Lebanese citizens risk jail time for contact with Israelis. The country also boycotts any products from Israel. Recently, Lebanon decided to be the first of several Arab nations to ban the superhero blockbuster Wonder Woman over Israeli actress Gal Gadot’s starring role.
The incident with Ms. Hanna is also not the first time beauty queens have been penalized for having contact with Israelis.
Saly Greige, also known as Miss Lebanon 2015, sparked outrage in the country and almost forfeited her title when a picture of her posing with Miss Israel, Miss Japan and Miss Slovenia surfaced on social media.
In her defense, Greige insisted that Miss Israel had continually harassed her for a picture and she had refused.
“Since the first day of my arrival to participate in 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,” Ms Greige said.
“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.”