Miss Lebanon keeps crown in spite of selfie controversy with Miss Israel
Ghinwa Obeid - The Daily Star (Lebanon) Jan. 24, 2015 12:13 AM
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Jan-24/285164-miss-lebanon-keeps-crown-in-spite-of-selfie-controversy-with-miss-israel.ashx

BEIRUT: Saly Greige will continue her duties as Miss Lebanon for 2014,
Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon announced Friday, ending a week of
speculation over her fate after she was heavily criticized for appearing in
a photo with Miss Israel.

“Based on the information [obtained], of course there isn’t any reason to
punish Miss Lebanon or to strip her title,” Pharaon said at a news
conference.

A picture of Greige smiling with Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, as well as Miss
Japan and Miss Slovenia went viral last weekend, prompting many to call on
the ministry, which sponsors the event, to strip her of her title, given
that contact of any sort with the Jewish state is illegal for Lebanese
citizens. Lebanon and Israel have technically been in a state of war since
1949.

But Pharaon Friday said Greige deserved the country’s full support, adding
that she had been the target of smear tactics, mostly by the international
media.

“She is being subjected to a racist campaign, a campaign against a region
[and one] that doesn’t have any basis ... There is a real and random
campaign taking place,” Pharaon said.

When it first emerged, the photo caused uproar among many Lebanese,
particularly following a report by Al-Jadeed TV, which in turn was picked up
by international media outlets.

Earlier this week, the minister announced he would launch a probe into the
incident and would keep the case open until Greige returned from Miami in
order to gather more information about the incident.

“Of course, we consider that Miss Lebanon is the ambassador of tourism in
Lebanon so we had to keep up with the incident, investigate it and see how
to deal with it,” Pharaon said. “This isn’t a trial as what some called it.”

Pharaon said it was important for them to look into the level of
responsibility displayed by Greige throughout her participation in the
beauty contests – Miss World and currently Miss Universe – and how she dealt
with the photo incident.

Another major determinant was Greige’s intentions behind the photo, he said,
citing a quote from an interview with Miss Israel 2014 Mor Maman, in London
last month.

“On one of the trips they took us on [during the Miss World competition],
some of us girls wanted to take a selfie. Miss Lebanon wanted to join but
asked me where I was from. When I told her I was from Israel, she declined
the photo,” Pharaon quoted Maman as saying.

He called it “conclusive evidence” that showed Greige’s clear intention to
avoid photos with Miss Israel.

Matalon, who was first runner-up in the Miss Israel competition, went on to
represent her country in the Miss Universe competition.

Pharaon also referenced an interview of Miss Egypt Lara Debbane on an
Egyptian channel in December, in which Debbane said Matalon had tried to
snap a photo with Greige during the Miss World pageant on numerous
occasions.

This was the line that Greige took in her personal defense of the photo,
arguing that Miss Israel effectively “photobombed” her.

“From the first day I arrived at the Miss Universe pageant, I was very
careful not to take any pictures with Miss Israel,” Greige, who has a master’s
degree in civil engineering, wrote on her Facebook page, adding that Matalon
“tried repeatedly to take pictures” with her.

“While I was preparing with Miss Slovenia and Miss Japan to get our
photograph taken, Miss Israel jumped in and took a selfie with her phone and
posted it on social media,” she wrote.

This is far from the first time this sort of controversy has erupted,
although it is likely that the explosion of technology and social media has
helped fan the flames much more.

Pharaon pointed to several previous participants that found themselves in a
similar photographic bind to Greige, including Hanya Baydoun, Gladys Tabet,
Georgina Rizk and Ghada Turk.

Not everyone took it quite so seriously, however.

The CEO of We Group, which manages the Miss Lebanon pageant, suggested the
whole affair had been blown out of proportion.

“I think we should stop [talking about] this because this is what the
Israelis want and we fell into the trap,” Richard Pharaon told The Daily
Star Thursday, adding that there was no reason Greige should be stripped of
her title.

Over in the United States, political satirist Jon Stewart dedicated part of
Monday’s edition of The Daily Show to mock the controversy.

“I get that Israel and Lebanon share an intractable enmity but come on – the
Miss Universe pageant?” he exclaimed, before adding: “It’s a beauty pageant,
they’re all enemies!”

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on
January 24, 2015, on page 4.