Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Miss Universe Philippines, Beatrice Luigi Gomez, comes under fire after posting a photo wearing traditional clothes Palestine when visiting Israel. He is considered to have inherited Palestinian culture when he visited the country for competitions Miss Universe.
In the photo, Beatrice, who is seen preparing food and wearing traditional Palestinian clothes, added the hashtag #VisitIsrael which infuriated a number of social media users.
“The organizers of the Miss Universe in Israel and the contestants take on Palestinian culture, without the acknowledgment of hundreds of generations of Palestinians inheriting this cultural identity,” Twitter user Layth Hanbali said in response to Beatrice’s post.
“Needless to say, there is not even a hint to the Palestinians whose cultural identity has been suppressed, denied and stolen by Zionism,” he continued.
Some accused the Miss Universe pageant and its contestants of ‘abolishing colonialism’ and that Israel was trying to ‘steal everything to do with Palestine’.
The incident occurred a few days before Beatrice competed in the 70th edition of Miss Universe in the city of Eilat, Israel on Sunday (12/12).
quote The New Arab, organizers hope the event will promote Israel as a tourist destination, despite activists calling for a boycott of the contest over Israel’s human rights abuses against Palestinians.
Not only Miss Universe Philippines, other participants also caused controversy ahead of the competition.
A video showing Miss Universe Thailand, Anchilee Scott-Kemmis, entering Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound sparked outrage among Palestinians last week.
Meanwhile, Indonesia is officially absent from the Miss Universe 2021 event. Through an official statement uploaded to its Instagram account, the Puteri Indonesia Foundation (YPI) revealed that the reason for not being able to attend the beauty pageant was one of the reasons for travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia.
“It is with a heavy heart that we would like to inform you that we will not be able to participate in the 70th Miss Universe pageant. Strict preparation times and restrictions [mobilitas dan perjalanan] because Covid-19 made us decide not to send our delegates for this year’s competition,” YPI wrote, Sunday (28/11).
Malaysian has also announced that it will not be sending any contestants. The South African government also said it had withdrawn support for the country’s representatives for their participation in the event.
Previously, Miss Universe Andrea Meza said that the beauty event should not be politicized. He said this was related to the 70th Miss Universe event which took place in Israel.
(fby/asr)
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