Israel cancels national Miss Universe beauty pageant for first time in 70 years

For the first time in seven decades, Israel will not send a beauty queen to the Miss Universe pageant, which next takes place on January 14 in New Orleans, US.

The Miss Israel organisation released a statement, saying it would not participate in the pageant, which was founded in 1952.

Local media announced the move on Sunday, with The Times of Israel reporting that opinions in the country were divided on whether or not beauty pageants remain relevant in 2022.

The announcement was made a year after the Israeli southern resort city of Eilat hosted the global pageant, where Miss India Harnaaz Sandhu took home the crown.

Scroll through the gallery above to see the moment Miss Universe 2021 was crowned

Sella Sharlin, who was Miss Israel 2019, told Israel's Radio 103FM on Friday that the competition “gives a lot of tools to anyone who is chosen”, adding that since winning she was able to give lectures to youth and found a “group of associations that deal with financial education for youth”.

She said that while changes could still be made, such as removing the swimsuit segment of the competition, “at the end of the day, this competition gives a platform and a place for women to lead, to initiate, and not necessarily to talk about beauty”.

Sivan Klein, the winner in 2003, meanwhile, said in a video post on the country's Channel 12 website, that she backed the cancellation.

“Queen Elizabeth has died, and now the beauty queen contest is buried,” she said.

Overall, she believes the contest to be “shallow”.

“It asks smart questions of smart women, in a bikini. It places a crown on the head and, at the same time, a ceiling,” she said.

Miss Universe made history in August when it announced it was making one of the biggest changes to its selection process. Starting next year, the annual competition will accept married women and mothers. Previously, only single women, aged between 18 and 28, who had never been married or had children, were allowed to apply.

The new rules will not be in place for the 71st Miss Universe, which has been postponed until January 14, as preliminary pageants have already taken place.

The new date also means two Miss Universe pageants are likely to be held next year — the first in January to crown the 2022 winner and the second one later in the year to crown Miss Universe 2023.

The announcement also effectively extended the reign of current Miss Universe Sandhu. But the longest-reigning Miss Universe is Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa, who won the tile in 2019.

Tunzi held her title for 525 days after the 2020 pageant was cancelled owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. She crowned her successor Andrea Meza from Mexico in May 2021, in turn making Meza's the shortest reign in history. Meza passed on her crown to Sandhu at a pageant in Israel in December last year after only 211 days.

The number of countries participating in the pageant changes every year. At the Miss Universe 2021 pageant, 80 countries took part, including first-time contestant Miss Universe Bahrain Manar Nadeem Deyani.

For Miss Universe 2022, organisers are expecting close to 90 countries to participate. A final number will be revealed before the pageant.

Scroll through the gallery below for some of the Miss Universe 2022 contestants crowned so far

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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