Former beauty queen Sara Aidan, who was stripped of her Iraqi citizenship, toured destroyed Israeli settlements near the Gaza Strip to express her solidarity with Israel. The "Times of Israel" reported that Aidan lost her Iraqi citizenship in 2019 due to her expression of support for Israel. It noted that Aidan is currently running to represent California's 30th congressional district. The Israeli report quoted Aidan saying she sought to show her tens of thousands of social media followers, including many Iraqis, the reality of what happened to the "deniers of October 7," referring to the Hamas attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages.
Aidan expressed her nausea when hearing American students claim that Hamas's actions were acts of self-defense. The report mentioned that Aidan spoke to Hebrew Channel 12, stating, "I want them to see the horror caused by the war on Gaza. The world is shouting 'Free Palestine,' and it was never about liberating Palestine. The issue is not about liberating Palestine; it's about killing innocent families and burning them alive. This does not liberate Palestine; this is terrorism."
According to the report, Aidan has previous experience with "jihadists." In 2008, at the age of 18, after learning English while being a refugee in Syria due to the war in Iraq, she offered her services as a translator for U.S. forces in Iraq. During her military service, she assisted U.S. forces in combating Iraqi Hamas, a group unrelated to the Palestinian movement. The report quoted a recent tweet from her on the platform "X," in which she said, "We, the U.S. Army, and the Iraqi Army fought Iraqi Hamas together. Tell me, if Hamas is trying to liberate Iraq, why were they trying to undermine the Iraqis' efforts to form their government and gain independence?"
During her visit to Israel, Aidan reiterated her stance by stating, "Here, it's exactly the same war, the same enemies." The Israeli report noted that the current representative for the California district Aidan is running in is the pro-Israel Democrat Adam Schiff, who will vacate the seat to run for the U.S. Senate in 2024. The report described Aidan's tour of Israel where she wore military attire that conveyed a message, with the word "Defend" written on her camouflage pants and gray shirt, complemented by beige military boots—clothes she wore during her work in Iraq.
Aidan expressed, "What I believe is that if I come to a war zone, and something happens to me, I want to die in this military uniform. I've witnessed war, explosions, suicide bombers, snipers, and everything." The report mentioned that Aidan, who was a Miss Universe contestant in 2017, caused international controversy after she met and took a "selfie" with Miss Israel Adar Gandelsman in Las Vegas, posting the photo with the caption "Peace and love from Miss Iraq and Miss Israel."
The report continued that Aidan and Gandelsman remain friends, having met at the hostages' square in Tel Aviv during Aidan's third visit to Israel. Aidan elaborated on her perspective, questioning, "What I don’t understand is why, when the Israeli Defense Forces entered Gaza to eliminate Hamas, why don’t the residents of Gaza support the Israeli army? Why didn’t they seize this opportunity to overthrow Hamas? Because Hamas is now weak. Do they accept the killing? I hope not."
