War has broken out in the Middle East — between two Miss Universe contestants.
It seems that Miss Lebanon, Saly Greige, objected to Doron Matalon, Miss Israel, jumping in uninvited when Greige was in the process of taking a selfie with Miss Japan and Miss Slovenia.
Sensible woman — she didn’t want to go home and face the wrath of the crazies.
Too late. Matalon posted the photo to her Instagram account which precipitated an uproar on social media at home. Lebanese television station Al Jadeed joked that, since one of her hobbies is reading, she should have read that Lebanon and Israel are enemies. (The two countries fought a war in 2006.)
But Greige is now accusing Miss Israel of virtually stalking her throughout the competition (begun last week in Miami with the finals on 1/25), trying to get in a photo with her.
Here’s the shot of the BFF’s. From the looks of them, you’d hardly guess they are still technically at war:
Greige sounds a little piqued here:
“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 have a photo with me),” this year’s Miss Lebanon Saly Greige, who is set to compete in the Miss Universe contest in Miami on Jan. 25, wrote on her Facebook.
The green-eyed brunette begged fans back home for their continued support in spite of a photo that Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, posted online that showed the two beauties of warring nations smiling side-by-side.
Most of her followers posted positive comments after the apology, but her government may not be as forgiving.
In 1993, the country stripped its Miss Lebanon, Ghada al-Turk, of her title after Agence France Press distributed a photo of her smiling arm-in-arm with her Israeli contender.
This time around, the Lebanese government has vowed to “launch an investigation” and will decide this week whether the offensive photo will get her crown snapped, too.
That’s exactly what Miss Israel was shooting for, said Miss Lebanon’s delusional agent, who likened the beauty to a stealthy saboteur, stalking his client with her camera drawn before she “photo-bombed” Greige standing with Miss Japan and Miss Slovenia, according to Lebanese media.
But Miss Israel said quit the kvetching.
“It doesn’t surprise me, but it still makes me sad,” wrote Matalon, in her own Facebook response.
“Too bad you cannot put the hostility out of the game, only for three weeks of an experience of a lifetime that we can meet girls from around the world and also from the neighboring country.”
What would a Middle East story be without a conspiracy theory?
In case you’re wondering who would win in a knock-down, dragged-out catfight, Miss Israel served two years in the IDF.
But given the “merits” of both women in question, does it really matter?
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