New Miss SA caught in anti-Israel crossfire

Newly crowned Miss South Africa, Lalela Mswane, is looking forward to taking part in the Miss Universe pageant later this year despite the sinister forces trying to prevent her from going to Israel, where the competition is to be held.

The graceful beauty has found herself in the middle of controversy just a few days into her reign following calls by local anti-Israel lobbyists to boycott the 70th Miss Universe competition, due to be held in Eilat in December.

The 24-year-old Bachelor of Law graduate from the University of Pretoria is bracing herself for further calls by Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions activists as the glittering pageant draws closer.

This week she told the SA Jewish Report that the Miss South Africa pageant had transformed her life and she looked forward to repeating this at Miss Universe.

“I found it empowering with so many positive things to take away from it. I also met nine other talented and wonderful fellow Miss South Africa 2021 sisters who made the journey so incredibly amazing. I look forward to repeating this at the Miss Universe pageant in December – to challenge myself once again, to learn and to meet women from around the globe who want to give back.”

She said she wouldn’t be the woman she is today had it not been for the women who had invested in her. “It’s only natural that I pay it forward. I aspire to be an empowered woman who inspires other women.”

Mswane was crowned Miss South Africa on Saturday, 16 October, at the Grand Arena, GrandWest, in Cape Town. Calls for her to boycott the Miss Universe pageant started even before she took possession of her new car or settled into the luxurious Miss SA Sandton apartment.

The Miss South Africa organisation said it wouldn’t get involved in a “political war of words”.

Stephanie Weil, the managing director of Nine Squared Communications & Events, which owns the rights to Miss South Africa, told the SA Jewish Report she had nothing further to say.

Mswane who comes from the rural village of KwaSokhulu in Richards Bay in KwaZulu Natal is an inspiring role model. She said she hoped to make an impact on unemployment through her initiative #BeReady, which offers services and training to youth to equip them to start their own enterprises.

Last week, Mandla Mandela, the grandson of the late former president, Nelson Mandela, called on Mswane to snub the Miss Universe competition.

In a statement that he shared on Instagram, Mandela accused Israel of being an apartheid state and claimed the country “violates the fundamental human rights of the Palestinian people and commits crimes against humanity”.

He called on countries to “bolster efforts” to isolate Israel and cut all ties, and urged all African countries to withdraw from the Miss Universe pageant.

Former Miss Iraq, Sarah Idan, criticised Mandela’s calls for a boycott in a video posted on various social media platforms.

“All I can say is: how dare you?” Idan said in the clip, addressing Mandela. “How dare you, as a man, try to tell an organisation for women and women empowerment what to do? This is an opportunity that millions of women dream of having, to go on the world stage and represent their people, their nation, and their culture. Not governments, not politics, and definitely not your political agenda.”

Idan also criticised Mandela for using the term “apartheid” to “attack Israel”, arguing that the word has been used against Israel by “radical Islamists, terrorist organisations, and the Iranian regime, all of whom hate women and women’s rights”.

“Please allow Miss South Africa to go and experience Israel up close, on the ground, and let her be the judge for herself,” she said. “I’m positive, just like me, she will be shocked to see that the Israeli government consists of Muslims, Jews, Arabs, [and] Christians. Those people not only get to vote on policies, but they’re also part of the Knesset, have political parties, and some of them are even Israeli ambassadors to the world.”

Idan concluded her video by telling Mswane, “I hope that you will enjoy your trip, and learn not only about Israel, but about other beautiful countries. This is what the Miss Universe pageant is about.”

Idan, who is Muslim and was the first Miss Iraq in 45 years, received death threats and was forced to leave her home after posting a selfie on Instagram with former Miss Israel, Adar Gandelsman, at the 2017 Miss Universe pageant with the caption “Peace and love from Miss Iraq and Miss Israel.”

Mandela responded to Idan’s video with another rambling statement in which he questioned her “blind spot” support for Israel and her “lack of moral fibre” and asked, “Don’t Palestinian women also have human rights?”

Idan told The Algemeiner, “I’d like to warn beauty queens to prepare for an army of bots that will probably harass their social media posts while they’re in Israel with hashtags ‘end the occupation’ and ‘free Palestine’. They shouldn’t worry, those aren’t even real people but fake accounts used by a few propagandists to intimidate them. This is a cheap tactic to silence them. Just keep doing what you are doing. Stay confidently beautiful.”

Reeva Forman, the honorary life vice-president of the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), said Mandela shouldn’t be allowed to undermine the empowerment of South African women. “He must cease his attempts to undermine the empowerment of women, to harness it for his long-standing hateful anti-Israel agenda,” said this former model and 1983 Businesswoman of the Year.

Forman said his call to boycott the pageant “should be dismissed as eroding the aspirations of South African women who wish to shine on the international stage”.

The SAZF said that Israel regularly hosted international sporting and cultural events, including Eurovision and the Giro d’Italia, and that more countries in the region are signing peace agreements. “Furthermore, FIFA has recently spoken of hosting the World Cup in the country. Israel is a thriving multicultural democracy, and accusations that it’s similar to the former South African government are beyond ridiculous. In fact, one of Israel’s recent entrants to Miss Universe is a woman of Ethiopian descent,” the statement read.

Forman said that Israel had also actively been involved in the fight against gender-based violence in South Africa, supporting women’s shelters and organisations teaching young girls how to defend themselves against attack.

“Mandla Mandela is no poster child for women’s rights, specifically his well-publicised failure to honour his commitments to previous relationships, along with other public indiscretions. We encourage Mandla to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, who visited Israel himself and brought home a message of peace and dialogue to all concerned,” she said.