Who Wants Peace in the Middle East?
Sarah Idan was the first woman to represent Iraq in the Miss Universe contest in almost half a century. She went to the competition hoping to make friends. She made one in Miss Israel, and then everything changed—but not in the way she expected.
#iraq #prageru #middleeast
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Script:
There’s an old saying: Man plans and God laughs. That couldn’t be more true.
My plan was simple enough. Go to the Miss Universe contest as Miss Iraq and represent Iraqi women on the world stage.
My country hadn’t sent anyone to the competition for 45 years, so my being there was a big deal.
The Miss Universe contest brings women together from all over the world—it’s a true celebration of diversity. The world is made up of all kinds of people. I like that.
So, when I met Miss Israel, I said, “Let’s take a picture so our people can see we don’t have a problem and we’re actually ambassadors for peace.”
We took a photo together and I shared it on Instagram. I captioned it “Peace and Love from Miss Iraq and Miss Israel.”
And that was the end of life as I knew it.
Overnight, everything changed. The Miss Iraq organization—under pressure from the Iraqi government—threatened to strip me of my title if I didn’t immediately take down the photo.
But that was nothing compared to the barrage of death threats I received. And not only was I getting them, so was my family.
You see, Iraq doesn’t recognize Israel as a legitimate nation-state. It never has.
There are no diplomatic relations between the countries.
My selfie with Miss Israel was meant to be a gesture of goodwill—the start of something positive.
But many Iraqis and other Arabs took it as a slap in the face. They thought I was betraying the Palestinians, and by extension, all Arabs and Muslims.
As bad as it was for me, it was worse for my family, who were living in Iraq and, suddenly, in very real danger. To protect them, I did what the Miss Iraq mission told me to do. I issued a statement saying I do not support the Israeli government or its policies.
Then, with as much grace as I could muster, I put a smile on my face and competed. I didn’t talk to the media. I didn’t talk to anyone.
But the hatred didn’t stop. There was no way I could safely go back to Iraq and no way my family could stay there. Thank God, they managed to get safely out of the country. To this day no one in my family could return to Iraq. All because I smiled next to an Israeli.
I went to the Miss Universe pageant as a musician and a model.
I left conflicted and confused. What had I done that was so terrible? Why so much hate?
During the pageant, my intentions were never political. I just wanted to meet people and make friends. But my experience showed me that I had to become political. But I would do it in my own way.
I would bring my photo with Miss Israel to life.
So I went to Israel, even though my Arab friends advised me not to go. They told me it would be dangerous and that it would ruin my future because they believed Israelis don’t like Arabs and the Arabs would hate me even more for going.
Well, the second part certainly turned out to be true.
As for the Israelis, they could not have been more welcoming. But here’s what surprised me: the Israelis were not just Jews. They were Muslims, Christians, and others, too.
For the full script, visit: https://www.prageru.com/video/who-wants-peace-in-the-middle-east
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This woman had balls…
It is a shame that many Palestinians and Arabs do not think the same as her and prefer conflict and jihad instead of order, justice, freedom and peace!
Which does not mean that they do not exist, such as: King Faysal I of Irak, Sheikh Musa Hadeib, Irgun militiaman Baruch Mizrahi (born Hamuda Abu Al-Anyan), former Hezbollah member Avraham Sinai (born Ibrahim Yassin), bedouin diplomat Ismail Khaldi, former member of the militant al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya Tawfik Hamid, author Walid Shoebat, writer Nonie Darwish, Hamas former member and Shin Bet undercover agent Mosab Hassan Yousef, Sheik Hussein Mohammed Ali Abu Yussef , Yahya Mahamid, Hassan Bey Shukri, Sheikh As'ad Shukeiri (his son became a PLO activist), human rights activists Bassem Eid and Yoseph Haddad, Mithqal Pasha al-Fayiz, the former winner of MasterChef in 🇮🇱 Sara Zoabi and her son Mohammed Zoabi (both ironically relatives of anti zionist activist Haneen Zoabi), Sheikh Ahmad al-Adwan, journalists Khalid Abu Toameh, Fred Maroun and Bassam Tawil or Professor Mohammed Dajani!
Thank you Sarah, your voice is like an oasis in the middle of the sweltering desert!
I knew her in OIF 07-08 12th combat aviation and she is so stuck up. Funny how people buy into this. Ask me anything and I will tell you truth of my knowledge
She is so beautiful, inside and out.
Everybody wants peace but just on his individual terms and thats the problem, and thats why there is no peace
Thank you for telling your story!❤
Iranians people will bring peace to the middle east only if Israel ceased to exist then a new world order will be created where the middle east has been saved from israel.
You took a selfie with miss Israel not miss Jewish people, being anti Israel doesn’t make you anti Jewish, there are millions of Jews out there who oppose Israel, so drop the anti semitism shit 😒
You are a true hero. ❤
It is called Palestine. They are Jewish Palestinians. There's no such state as Israel. Give me a break. Zionists are war criminals.
China seems to want peace in the Middle East. America seems to like war in the Middle East
Beautiful, Sarah! We LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU!! May God richly bless you for your tremendously BOLD stand for what is RIGHT!
I am Iraqi and I see that our hostility to Israel since its establishment until now is just nonsense nothing more
I love PragerU and all of their videos but this is the dumbest video I've ever seen. If she had done a sunni/ Shia peace picture, I would understand. Instead you jumped all the way to recognizing Israel. What about Isreal killing the Palestinians? How is that peaceful? Israel was created on top of another country. No that is not Anti Semetic. That is Anti Zionist. That is the difference.
так, падажжи. американцы, вы же несли демократию в ирак, положили там кучу местного населения, разгромили их армию, свергли диктатора. почему же там случаются такие ситуации тогда? это что же получается… вот уже 20 лет вы там находитесь, а демократии все нет? быть может, вы там вообще не за этим?)
The problem with George Bush, he should have imposed values on Iraq and rejected sharia and established relations between Israel and Iraq.
We don’t want to eradicate Israel, we just want to let the Jews coexist, not have a Jewish state who commits racism against Arabs. Why does the usa not recognise Palestine then? Why does Israel bomb apartments in Gaza? Why does Israel make Palestine recognise Israel, but not recognise Palestine itself?
And that's yet another hypocrite apostate exposed for what she is, revealing her true colours and beliefs, hope soon enough all of them will be well known and so they won't be mistaken to be part of us as Muslims.
I even have seen christians and some jews with much more self respect than her.
How about a one state binational solutions with a return to the pre-1948 Palestinian borders. One Palestinian State as it was before 1948. Israel was artificially created by the Zionists in 1948.
This channel is a Zionist propaganda.
I’man Atheist and hate religion specially Islam, but Israel is a religious country and the idea is to eliminate all non-jewish groups in-order to bring Massah to Palestine 😂
F@ck that delusion and anyone supporting this stupidity
None of 'em do.
Not even peace without Israel. They seek conquest.
Israel isn't just fighting for its right to exist, they're keeping Islamists like Hamas, Hezbollah, and even the IRGC themselves from dominating the region and mobilizing to invade Europe and Asia.
Repent for your sins and turn to Jesus
Jesus is the life
Jesus is the way
Jesus is the truth
Jesus is good
Jesus saves
Jews and muslims don’t hate each other, they’re being fed warmongering propaganda and that’s why SOME hate each other. The arab caliphate around the year ~1000 was enormously tolerant towards christians and jews, while jews were being told persecuted and killed in christian kingdoms abiding the papacies genocidal aspirations.
If israel just wants peace, why shoot innocent children? Why kill palestinian journalists? Why settle in palestinian communities and forcing them out? And no they’re not just attacking muslims, they’re also attacking palestinian christians and jazidi’s. Don’t pretend like israel “just wants peace”, they’re committing a genocide.
What a big liar, the story seems very toucheful when you tell it from this perspective but we all know the reality and no one knows it more than the palastinian them selves israel is a bloody country that erases every arabic and muslim person to get existed and we will keep fighting it until the end of this fake country
💙💙💙💙💙 תודה רבה שרה על העמידה על האנושות, מקווה שיראו מי צודק.
Just look up "Breaking the Silence" and find a whole organisation of former soldiers detailing their experiences in the Israeli Defense Forces and what they did to the Palestinian people.
ur sure are naïve
Thank you. You have guts!
China-Taiwan also relation also shares significant similarity with this case.
islam doesn't want peace, it wants the world!
But what did Israelis say? So then we know with whom the problem lies😉
cool insight!
💪
Yeah we all are wrong and Israel is right!!
With great beauty comes great stupidity
Not USA or Israel for sure.