Nadeen Ayoub, famously recognized as Miss Palestine and the first contestant from her country to compete in Miss Universe, married Sharaf Barghouti in 2016. Sharaf is the son of Marwan Barghouti, a well-known figure currently serving a life sentence in Israel for his involvement in orchestrating attacks that resulted in five deaths. Notably, Ayoub appears to have named her son after Marwan Barghouti, the influential Fatah leader imprisoned in 2002.

Marwan Barghouti, regarded as a significant Palestinian figure detained by Israel, is the founder of the West Bank’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and a former leader of street demonstrations before his capture. Many view him as a potential unifying force for Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank. Despite efforts, Hamas has been unsuccessful in securing his release through hostage negotiations.

Residing in Dubai as a US-Canadian citizen, Ayoub has been spotted in social media images with the Barghouti family, according to a report by the New York Post. Although it remains uncertain if she is still with Sharaf, family members have confirmed their marriage at one time. Before her pageant fame, Ayoub was an instructor at IQ Fitness in Ramallah, a gym owned by her brother-in-law Qassam Barghouti, who was previously detained in Israel but later cleared of charges in an ambush and four attempted murder cases.

One social media post refers to Ms Ayoub as ‘Nadeen Barghouti’. After her participation as Miss Palestine was announced earlier this year, Ayoub said in an Instagram post: ‘Today, I step onto the Miss Universe stage not just with a title but with a truth… I represent every Palestinian woman and child whose strength the world needs to see. We are more than our suffering – we are resilience, hope and the heartbeat of a homeland that lives on through us.’ She previously represented Palestine in the 2022 Miss Earth beauty pageant in the Philippines, where she came third.

Meanwhile, Miss Israel revealed that she has been bombarded with death threats after footage appeared to show her scowling at Miss Palestine on stage at an event in Thailand. The clip went viral online after it seemed to show Melanie Shiraz (pictured), 27, glaring and rolling her eyes at Ms Ayoub, who appeared to be standing next to her. But Shiraz has since posted separate, ‘original footage’ from the event, showing her standing behind Ayoub and diverting her expression elsewhere.

The Israeli beauty queen has claimed the video where she appeared to give Miss Palestine the side-eye was ‘edited’ and from a ‘third-party’, and designed to intentionally mislead audiences. In the wake of the viral clip, she said she received an onslaught of online hatred, including ‘Hitler-related comments’, resulting in her having to organise ‘heightened security’. ‘It’s not only death threats, but sexual assault threats,’ Shiraz told the New York Post. ‘I experienced antisemitism before but I didn’t think it would be this bad.’ The event in Thailand is the first time the beauty competition has included a contestant from the Palestinian-occupied territories.