Former Miss Iraq Dismisses Anti-Israel Tirade by Roger Waters: ‘Use Your Power for Good, Bring People Together’

Shiryn Ghermezian

Former Miss Iraq Sarah Idan, right, speaking alongside former Miss Israel Adar Gendelsman at the AJC Global Forum in June 2018. Photo: Screenshot / YouTube.

Former Miss Iraq Sarah Idan on Friday shot down an anti-Israel rant by ex-Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters in which he urged the boycott of the Eurovision song contest being held next week in Tel Aviv.

“An artist has power to inspire. Make sure you use your power for good and to bring people together,” Idan, 29, said in a series of Twitter posts. “I never understood artists who boycott an entire country, you’re singing for people not for governments.”

The former beauty queen’s comments were in response to an article, posted on Twitter by the blog Israelycool, about the latest anti-Israel video uploaded onto Facebook by Waters, who is an avid supporter of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

Idan, the founding CEO of the organization Forward Humanity, was attacked on social media in 2017 and received death threats for taking a selfie with Miss Israel Adar Gendelsman at the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas. At the time, she refused to delete the photo despite pressure from her Iraqi sponsors, including the director of the Miss Iraq Organization, and out of fear, Idan and her family fled Iraq. She now lives in New York.

Idan said last year that she was still being targeted with death threats, some from the terrorist group Hamas.

Iraq does not recognize Israel and the two countries do not have any formal diplomatic relations. Israel does have warm relations, however, with Iraq’s Kurdish community, which the Jewish state backed for independence from Iraq in 2017.