Two Miss Universe contestants have come under fire in the Lebanon after posing in a selfie together.
Miss Lebanon has claimed she was ambushed by Miss Israel in a selfie during her time in the competition, after critics at home branded her a traitor for being snapped with a citizen of an enemy state.
The controversy comes after Lebanese model Saly Greige was pictured smiling in a shot alongside the Miss Israel contestant Doron Matalon, as well as Miss Slovenia and Miss Japan in Miami.
Miss Matalon then posted the photo to her Instragram site, sparking anger between Lebanese and Israeli supporters of the competition.
The image was deleted following the initial response, but uploaded again on Sunday night with a message addressing the abuse the pair received online.
With the two countries still technically at war, Lebanese people risk prison if they call or travel to Israel and all Israeli products are banned in Lebanon.
The shared image sparked a backlash against Ms Greige, who was branded a hypocrite and traitor for posing with her Israeli counterpart. Lebanese supporters have now called on officials to dethrone the beauty queen for disgracing her country.
Addressing the social media backlash on her Twitter page, Greige wrote:
“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 (that tried several times to have a photo with me.)
“I was having a photo with Miss Japan, Miss Slovenia and myself, suddenly Miss Israel jumped in, took a selfie, and put it on her social media.”
But Ms Matalon hit back at the attacks, claiming the images were not meant to offend and were purely the girls enjoying the experience of the competition:
“[It] doesn’t surprise me, but it still makes me sad.
“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 neighbouring country.”
