A Druze woman withdrew from Israel’s beauty pageant after a dispute with her community. Angela Fares, 18, had hoped to become the first Miss Israel from the conservative Druze Arab minority, but pulled out this week after saying she had received death threats from Druze upset at what they considered her immodesty.
“I had a dream of being chosen the beauty queen and representing Israel and women with dignity,” Fares told Yediot Achronot. “I was shocked when I heard about the plans to kill me.” Sheik Waled Tarif, a leader in Fares’ hometown of Sajur, said she had almost crossed a “red line,” but having quit the national beauty contest had “prevented the community’s honor from being desecrated.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
