Miss Universe selfie causes international uproar

Rob Quinn | Newser

(NEWSER) – Politics haven't been left behind at this year's Miss Universe pageant, where a selfie taken by Miss Israel is becoming an international incident.

After Doron Matalon posted the photo of herself with Miss Lebanon, Miss Slovenia, and Miss Japan on Instagram, Lebanese beauty queen Saly Greige faced calls for her to be stripped of her title for posing with the representative from her country's bitter enemy.

Since Greige says one of her hobbies is reading, she should have known Lebanon and Israel are enemies, sniped one critic on Lebanese TV, according to NBC. Others say Greige should lose the crown for "mingling with the citizen of an enemy state," reports Lebanon's Daily Star.

Greige, in a plea for Lebanon's continued support, said she had been doing her best to avoid Matalon but was "photobombed," reports the New York Daily News.

"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," she wrote on Facebook.

Matalon says the situation makes her feel 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 neighboring country," she wrote. (Olivia Culpo, the most recent American Miss Universe, outraged Indian authorities with a Taj Mahal fashion shoot.)

Newser is a USA TODAY content partner providing general news, commentary and coverage from around the Web. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

MORE FROM NEWSER: