Beauty And The Beast: Sarah Idan and Mandla Mandela

Sarah Idan is an Iraqi beauty queen and former Miss Universe contestant, who became friends with — and took a selfie with – Adar Gandelsman, the Israeli contestant at the 2017 Miss Universe contest. For that heinous act, Ms. Idan received death threats and had to leave Iraq with her family. She now lives in the United States. A report on her recent trip to South Africa is here: “Former Miss Iraq Says Nelson Mandela’s Grandson Refuses ‘Dialogue’ Over Anti-Israel Stance,” by Shiryn Ghermezian, Algemeiner, March 29, 2022:

Former Miss Universe contestant Sarah Idan said on Tuesday [March 29] that the grandson of the late civil rights activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela has so far declined her offer to speak with her during her visit to the country, to discuss his controversial views on Israel and the conflict in the Middle East.

“He saw my messages. I called on him to have the conversation twice! I guess it’s easier to start a war than to have the dialogue which can lead to peace,” the former Miss Iraq, 32, said on her Instagram Stories. She previously said on Instagram that she had invited Nkosi Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela — a member of South Africa’s parliament and an outspoken critic of Israel — to meet with her to speak about human rights and the Middle East.

Why would Mandla Mandela avoid meeting Sarah Idan? What is he so afraid of? It’s because he knows what a poor figure he would cut, as his vast ignorance about Israel would be exposed in any exchange with Ms. Idan, who has visited Israel several times and seen with her own eyes the absence of that “apartheid” that so exercises Mandla Mandela. As an Arab and a Muslim, her defense of Israel naturally carries special weight.

Idan, who founded the human rights NGO Humanity Forward, is in South Africa to talk with students across the country about peace, human rights, Zionism and antisemitism, as well as gender-based violence and female empowerment. Her visit coincides with Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) taking place on college and university campuses in Africa from March 21-April 4.

Idan is a truth-teller, undermining with her own eyewitness account of the Jewish state these charges of “apartheid” that will be made during this scandalous Israel Apartheid Week.

The former beauty queen previously slammed Mandela when he called on Miss South Africa Lalela Mswane and all African countries to boycott the 2021 Miss Universe pageant, which was held in Eilat, Israel. The staunch supporter of the movement to boycott the Jewish state accused Israel of a “heinous occupation.”

“Israel is an apartheid state and we will continue to mobilize all freedom loving people of the world to boycott, divest and pass sanctions against the brutal apartheid regime,” he said at the time. “We must persist in isolating apartheid Israel in the same way that we isolated apartheid South Africa.”

Mandela’s call for Miss South Africa, Lalela Mswane, to boycott the 2021 Miss Universe pageant because it was being held in Eilat, Israel, was fortunately ignored. Lalela Mswane took part in the Miss Universe contest in Eilat and, what’s more, she was crowned “second runner-up” – i.e., she came in third. South Africans swelled with pride; they realized that had Mandla Mandela had his way, there would have been no such victory for Ms. Mswane nor reflected glory for her country..

Former Miss Iraq Sarah Idan dismissed claims that Israel is practicing “apartheid,” a charge frequently levied by anti-Zionist activists.

Mandla Mandela visited Israel in 2017. He paid scant attention to Israeli Jews — upon his arrival in the country he headed straight to Ramallah to meet with P.A. officials, including Mahmoud Abbas, who, of course, filled him in on all the terrible things the Israelis were doing, including their practice of apartheid. It didn’t bother Mandla Mandela that he hadn’t himself observed any Israeli Jews enforcing “apartheid” rules or Israeli Arabs suffering from this practice. He needed no proof; it was enough that PA officials told him there was “apartheid.” Why should he disbelieve them? 

Last year he supported a call by the South African government to revoke Israel’s observer status at the African Union. During a 2017 visit to Israel to meet with Palestinian leaders he called Israel “the worst apartheid regime,” while most recently, he cast Ukraine’s leaders as “neo-Nazis” allied with “apartheid Israel’s dogs of war.”…

So in Mandla Mandela’s mind, Israel’s “apartheid regime” is worse even than that practiced in South Afric , even though he has been unable, in all his public fulminations against Israel, to produce a single example of apartheid as practiced by Israel.

Why did Mandla Mandela charge that “Israel is the worst apartheid regime”? He came to that damning conclusion because Mahmoud Abbas told him so. He did not bother to investigate for himself, for if he had, he would have seen that Israeli Arabs sit in the Knesset, serve on the Supreme Court, go abroad as ambassadors. He might have discovered that the chairman of Israel’s largest bank, Bank Leumi, is an Arab. He could have seen for himself Jews and Arabs working side by side in offices and factories, studying together in universities, being treated by both Jewish and Arab medical personnel. He would have observed Jews and Arabs play on the same teams (the captain of Israel’s national soccer team is an Arab), and in the same orchestras. All of that could have been discovered by Mandla Mandela, but his mind was made up. He had been told about Israel’s “apartheid” regime and he believed.

A remarkable woman, Sarah Idan has endured exile from her country, endured the stripping of her citizenship, too, and endured the many death threats she has received for her selfie with an Israeli beauty queen. Despite all this, she continues to travel the world to tell the truth about Israel, and about its Arab neighbors.

Of course, Mandla Mandela won’t come out in the open to debate her. He wants her gone from South Africa, so he can reappear in public and again let loose with his spittle-flecked calumny of the Jewish state. Sarah Idan is Muslim, Arab, articulate, and very beautiful. As for Mandla Mandela, his only claim on the world’s attention is that he is Nelson Mandela’s grandson. No wonder he’ll remain in hiding until the formidable Ms. Idan leaves the country.