Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

First Black Miss Israel Scores Dinner With Barack Obama

Yityish Aynaw, the first Miss Israel of Ethiopian descent, has been invited to meet President Obama at a dinner hosted by President Shimon Peres.

Two Trailblazers: Miss Israel Yityish Aynaw, the first black woman to win the crown, is going to state dinner with President Barack Obama during his upcoming trip to Israel.

Aynaw, 21, who was crowned two weeks ago, reportedly was invited at the behest of Obama’s advance team, which is currently in Israel putting the finishing touches on plans for next week’s visit.

In interviews with the Israeli media on Wednesday, following her invitation, Aynaw called Obama an inspiration and a role model.

“For me, he is a role model who broke down barriers, a source of inspiration that proves that every person really can reach any height, regardless of their religion, race or gender,” she told the mass circulation Israeli daily Yediot Acharonot.

She told the Jerusalem Post that she thought she was invited to the dinner because she is “the first black Miss Israel to be chosen and [Obama] is the first black American president. These go together.”

Aynaw, who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia with her grandparents at the age of 12, said in an interview Wednesday night with Israel’s Channel 2 that when she meets Obama that she will tell him he has been a role model, and that he should free Jonathan Pollard.

She told the interviewer that as head of her high school student council she worked on many projects to call for the release of Pollard, who is serving a life sentence for spying for Israel, from a U.S. prison. “If I have the opportunity, why not?” she said.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.