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The world of beauty turned ugly last week.

It all started with what appears to be an innocent selfie posted by Miss Israel Doron Matalon. The photo, taken in Miami as Miss Universe contestants were prepping and primping for the pageant, shows Miss Japan, Miss Slovenia, Miss Israel, and uh-oh, Miss Lebanon.

More like a big no-no. While Matalon and Miss Lebanon Saly Greige were part of a competition involving swimsuits and sequins, their respective nations still fight their own battles with missiles and death. How dare the two women appear together, smiling as if Miss Universe were not an obvious metaphor for Middle Eastern politics?

This was a serious international incident, bigger than anything happening in Yemen, Ukraine, or France.

Matalon’s photo sparked calls for Greige to be stripped of her title. “You do not represent Lebanon,” several angry Lebanese commented. “If you sell your honour it’s easy to sell your country,” tweeted another.

Are you rolling your eyes yet? I was. I still am. You’d think that the almost 90 contestants in Florida were United Nations dignitaries meeting to promote world peace. Actually, in a way, that’s exactly what this group of women was doing. Wielding lipstick and hairspray, they were proving that diverse individuals from all over the world could come together to celebrate superficiality. The UN, in fact, could learn a lot from Miss Universe. OK, maybe not a lot, but Middle Eastern conflicts should have nothing to do with the Olympics—maybe more like the hunger games—of beauty.

You’d think that Greige would’ve responded that she was just having some fun with Matalon and that it was foolish to needlessly inject complicated politics into a pageant. Instead, she posted this on her Facebook page:

“Since the first day of my arrival to participate to Miss Universe, I was very cautious to avoid being in any photo or communication with Miss Israel (that tried several times to have a photo with me) … I was having a photo with Miss Japan, Miss Slovenia and myself; suddenly Miss Israel jumped in, took a selfie, and put it on her social media.”

Ain’t that a lame explanation! She essentially let the terrorists win, placating her critics, and going even further by blaming Matalon for photogate. Never mind that I don’t believe Greige’s explanation that Matalon “jumped in” to take the picture. For her part, Matalon also took to Facebook. She wrote,

“It doesn’t surprise me, but it still makes me sad. Too bad you cannot put the hostility out of the game, only for three weeks of an experience of a lifetime that we can meet girls from around the world and also from the neighbouring country.”

Exactly.

Still, I can also sympathize with Greige’s predicament. I suspect politics weren’t on her mind when Matalon took the photo. Unfortunately, she later had good reason to fear losing her title. In 1993, Lebanese authorities reprimanded Miss Lebanon by taking away her title after she appeared in a photo with Miss Israel.

Look, I’m not pretending that Miss Universe is the Diversity Olympics. The contestants look more alike than different. But it is nonetheless an event meant to celebrate beauty from many corners.

Or not. Perhaps pageants objectify women. Now that is a conversation worth having.