Miss India, Harnaaz Sandhu, was crowned Miss Universe in the Israeli city of Eilat on Monday, in a contest marked by calls for boycott in support of the Palestinian cause.
The young woman won the supreme distinction of beauty pageants on the shores of the Red Sea, ahead of Miss Paraguay, Nadia Ferreira, and Miss South Africa, Lalela Mswane.
This 70th edition of the annual competition places the French Clémence Botino, crowned Miss France 2020, in ninth place in the competition.
Noticed during her stay in national clothes - dressed in the manner of Joséphine Baker, recently pantheonized - the young Guadeloupe had almost missed the competition because of Covid-19.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Clémence Botino 🌸 (@clemencebotinooff)
The competition, which took place for the first time in Israel, took place in a heavy diplomatic climate.
The South African Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts had urged Lalela Mswane, its candidate, not to go to Eilat, citing "the atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinians".
The organization has also had to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, and in particular the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Palestinian organizations also called on the candidates not to participate in the event.
"We urge all participants to withdraw, to avoid any complicity with the apartheid regime of Israel and its violation of the human rights of Palestinians," called in particular the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
In an interview in November, 2021 Miss Universe Andrea Meza of Mexico said the contest should stay away from politics.
"Miss Universe is not a political or religious movement," she said.
Indonesia and Malaysia, countries which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, did not send any candidates, but spoke of difficulties linked to the pandemic.
Contest participants must be between the ages of 18 and 28 and may never have married or had children.
According to organizers' estimates, the coronation ceremony was to be watched by 600 million viewers in 172 countries.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/IGZ7GOCXZ5GUPAQ2HWGK6Z76BU.jpg)