There's an old saying, man plans and God laughs, that couldn't be more true.

My plan was simple enough. Go to the Miss Universe contest as Miss Iraq

in represent Iraqi women on the world stage. My country hadn't sent anyone to the competition

for 45 years, so my being there was a big deal. The Miss Universe contest brings women together

from all over the world. It is a true celebration of diversity. The world is made up of all kinds

of people and I like that. So when I met Miss Israel, I said, let's take a picture so our people

can see we don't have a problem and we're actually ambassadors for peace. We took a photo together

and I shared it on Instagram. I captioned it, Peace and Love from Miss Iraq and Miss Israel,

and that was the end of life as I knew it. Overnight, everything changed. The Miss Iraq

organization, under pressure from the Iraqi government threatened to strip me of my title if I

didn't immediately take down the photo. But that was nothing compared to the barrage of death

threats I received and not only was I getting them, so was my family. You see Iraq doesn't recognize

Israel as a legitimate nation state. It never has. There are no diplomatic relations between the

countries. My selfie with Miss Israel was meant to be a gesture of goodwill, the start of something

positive. But many Iraqis and other Arabs took it as a slap in the face. They thought I was

betraying the Palestinians and by extension all Arabs and Muslims. As bad as it was for me,

it was worse for my family who were living in Iraq and suddenly in very real danger.

To protect them, I did what the Miss Iraq mission told me to do. I issued a statement saying I do

not support the Israeli government or its policies. Then, with as much grace as I could muster,

I put a smile on my face and competed. I didn't talk to the media, I didn't talk to anyone.

But the hatred didn't stop. There was no way I could safely go back to Iraq and no way my family

could stay there. Thank God, they managed to get safely out of the country. To this day, no one in

...