Miss Lebanon, Saly Greige, has claimed that Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, photobombed her at the Miss Universe competition. The territories are essentially at war, and Greige explained she tried to avoid a photo with Matalon to no avail.
After Greige was criticized in her home country for posing next to Matalon, she basically said the photo was unwarranted on her end.
The photo was seen on Miss Japan, Keiko Tsuji’s Instagram page. When Greige posted it to her page, she cut out Matalon.
Greige explained, “The truth behind the photo, 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 isreal, who tried several times to take a photo with me (sic).”
She added, “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.”
The Telegraph reports although there hasn’t been conflicts between the Middle Eastern regions since 2006, some are asking for Miss Lebanon’s crown to be taken away for socializing with an enemy.
Miss Israel, however, wrote she didn’t understand why they couldn’t’ put their differences aside for one weekend.
She wrote on Facebook, “It doesn't surprise me, but it still makes me sad. Too bad you can not put he 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.”
image via Instagram from Saly Greige
image via INFphoto.com