Miss Trans Israel is a

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

for

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

people. It was first held in 2016 in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, when it was won by Talleen Abu Hanna. She represented the

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in the

Miss Trans Star International Miss trans Star International (formerly Miss trans Star Internacional) is a beauty pageant for transgender women. It was first held in 2010 in Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. The winner receives a crown and prize money. The election was organized b ...

beauty pageant, that was held in the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in 2016.

Miss Trans Israel 2016

Miss Trans Israel Pageant was held on May 27, 2016 at Habima National Theater in Tel Aviv, Israel. Eleven contestants from a variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds competed for the title of the first ever Miss Trans Israel 2016.

Auditions

On March 3, 2016 three rounds of auditions were held at the Theater Club in

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

for the 35 Trans women who wished to compete. Out of the nineteen participants who came to the auditions, eleven finalists were selected to compete in the final beauty pageant.

Pageant

To mark the beginning of pride week in Tel aviv, organizers and activists at the LGBT center produced for the first time in history, the Miss Trans Israel pageant held at Habima National Theatre. The prize was $15,000 worth of plastic surgery procedures at the Kamol Cosmetic Hospital in

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...

, including airfare and hotel accommodation, and donated by Dr. Kamol and Kamol hospital team. The event received international attention, with articles and videos in online newspapers such as

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

'', ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine, ''

Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...

'',

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

, ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'', and Spanish '' El Mundo''. Contestants were asked to model a swimwear look, a casual dress, and a bridal gown, in addition to being asked questions about their fashion style.

Production team

* Executive Director: Israela Stephanie Lev * Producer: Shenhav Levy * Director of LGBT Center: Yuval Egart * Public Relations: Hanita Lev Ari * Show Director: Segev Gershon * Visual Media: Koby Ben Shoshan * Lighting: Noa Elran * Photographer: Eitan Tal * Artistic Review: Ilan Peled, Noya Aviv, and Sharon Haziz * Music: Yoav Arnon * Graphic Designer: Guy Kaminer * Styling: Gili Algabi * Costumes: Julie Vino * Make Up: Miki Buganim Academy * Hair: Davis and Udi Academy * Hosts:

Gal Uchovsky Gal Uchovsky ( he, גל אוחובסקי; born September 27, 1958) is an Israeli screenwriter, producer, journalist, activist and Israeli TV personality. Early life Uchovsky was born in Hadera. His family moved to Vienna where his father studie ...

and Sharon Haziz * Choreographer: Shay Susanna

Panel of judges

* Efrat Tilma * Betty Rockaway * Shenhav Levy * Nicol Raidman * Vanessa Lopez * Ronan Ackerman

Guests of honor

* Judy Nirmoses Shalom * Gadi Bar Lavi * Jesper Vahr, Denmark's ambassador to Israel *

Gila Goldstein Gila Goldstein ( he, גילה גולדשטיין; 18 December 1947– 5 February 2017) was an Israeli sex worker, actress, singer and transgender rights activist. She was one of the first activists of the Aguda, the oldest and largest LGBT organ ...

Contestants

In a press release issued by the organizers and producers of the pageant, contestants were described as constituting "a true Israeli mosaic. With different backgrounds, communities, and faiths, they are an example of courage and tolerance." Contestants came from all over

, they represented

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

, and

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

faiths, as well as

Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli ...

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

, and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

-Israeli ethnicities. The eleven contestants were: * Talleen Abu Hanna * Elian Nasiel * Reem Or * Aylin Ben Zaken * Angelina Shamilov * Danielle Larnon * Maya Smadja * Almog Yehuda * Carolin Khoury * Madlen Matar * Shontal Israel

Winner

Talleen Abu Hanna was crowned the winner of the pageant, breaking historical boundaries and becoming the first ever Miss Trans Israel. Abu Hanna is a ballet dancer, and a model, and now lives in Tel Aviv. After her victory at Miss Trans Israel, Abu Hanna went on to win second place in the

Miss Trans Star Internacional Miss trans Star International (formerly Miss trans Star Internacional) is a beauty pageant for transgender women. It was first held in 2010 in Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. The winner receives a crown and prize money. The election was organized b ...

Beauty Pageant 2016 which was held in Barcelona on September 17. She also appeared in the eighth season of the Israeli edition of Big Brother.

Celebration of the Trans Community

For organizers, activists, contestants, and the LGBT community, the pageant was a celebration of acceptance in a region fraught with conflict and violence. Israel is arguably the only country in the Middle East where Trans people are free to live and express their true identities. Director, Israela Stephanie Lev was quoted in the ''

'' saying: "We live in Israel, the only sane country in the region where people can live as gays or transgenders and no one is going to throw them off the rooftop or slaughter them."

Miss Trans Israel 2017

Elian Nesiel from

Bat Yam Bat Yam ( he, בַּת יָם or ) is a city located on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast, on the Central Coastal Plain just south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area and the Tel Aviv District. In 2020, it had a population ...

is the winner of the

''Miss Trans Israel'' 2017, and she represented the

in the

2017

beauty Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...

contest Contest may refer to: * Competition * Will contest * Contesting, amateur radio contesting (radiosport) Film and television * ''Contest'' (2013 film), an American film * Contest (1932 film), a German sports film * "The Contest", a 1992 season 4 e ...

, that was held in the

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References

{{reflist, 35em Transgender beauty pageants Transgender events Beauty pageants in Israel Recurring events established in 2016 2016 establishments in Israel LGBT events in Israel Transgender in the Middle East

Miss Trans Israel 2016

Auditions

Pageant

Production team

Panel of judges

Guests of honor

Contestants

Winner

Celebration of the Trans Community

Miss Trans Israel 2017

See also

References