Arab-Israeli model takes on critics... in a bikini

by Shatha Yaish

NAZARETH, Israel - As make-up artists and hairdressers circle her, Huda Naccache calmly discusses the media frenzy sparked by her appearance, clad in a skimpy bikini, on the cover of an Arab-Israeli magazine.
The long-limbed 22-year-old, who comes from the mixed Israeli and Arab port city of Haifa, doesn't see the cover shoot for Lilac magazine as anything out of the ordinary.

For her, it was simply another part of a campaign in the run up to the Miss Earth competition in Thailand this December, where she will represent Israel.
But the cover shoot was the first time an Arabic magazine here has put a model in a bikini on its cover, and the first time an Arab-Israeli model has been featured on a front page in so little clothing.
The image in question featured a defiant-looking Naccache in a black-sequined bikini, an open white shirt draped over her shoulders and her thumbs hooked in the sides of her bikini bottom.
"Miss Huda Rocks This Earth!" blared the caption in English.

The media buzz was immediate, but Naccache brushes it aside with a flick of her long, dark hair.
"I have a family that supports me very much and had no objections whatsoever to me appearing on the cover in a bikini," she says, seated in front of a mirror in a white and red string two-piece, prepping for another shoot.
"My father was very pleased when he saw it for the first time," she adds.
"He said it was very beautiful and wished me good luck."
Tall and willowy, with strong eyebrows and graceful cheekbones, Naccache easily fits the profile for the modelling world.

But much of Israel's Arab minority still holds deeply-traditional values, so even though Naccache has appeared on the cover of Lilac magazine in the past, it wasn't until she stripped down to a bikini that the media began to pay attention.