TEL AVIV — The first-ever Miss Palestine contestant in the Miss Universe pageant married the son of Hamas’ most-wanted prisoner, Marwan Barghouti, and even named a child after him, The Post has learned.
Nadeen Ayoub — who claims to be a 27-year-old US and Canadian citizen living in Dubai — is competing this week to represent Palestine, a territory the US and Israel don’t even recognize as a sovereign state.
Strutting through preliminary rounds ahead of the pending pageant, Ayoub has kept most of her personal life under wraps — until now.
Years-old screenshots and social media posts obtained by The Post show she took pains to hide that she was once married to Sharaf Barghouti — son of the infamous Fatah leader serving five life sentences in Israel for orchestrating terror attacks that killed five people in 2001 and 2002.
Nadeen Ayoub’s official portrait for the 2025 Miss Universe pageant. nadeen.m.ayoub/Instagram
The convicted murderer’s name resurfaced last month when Hamas demanded his release in hostage-exchange negotiations with Israel — a request the Jewish state flatly refused, citing his participation in the first intifada, leadership in the second, convictions in five terror-related murders and founding of the West Bank’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
A secret life
Social media posts show Ayoub tied the knot with Sharaf Barghouti in 2016, later welcoming a son named Marwan three years later — seemingly in tribute to the convicted killer.
Fadwa Barghouti, wife of Marwan Barghouti, speaks at a rally to support him alongside posters featuring his photo. AFP via Getty Images
However, it is unclear if the pair remains married. A family member reached for comment confirmed to The Post that the two had been married, but denied knowledge of their current status.
Photos reviewed by The Post show the beauty queen cozying up with her husband and posing alongside Barghouti’s wife, Fadwa — a prominent Fatah figure herself. She also appears in photos published by Palestinian outlet Panet.il with Fadwa and other members of the Barghouti clan.
A photo posted to social media featuring Marwan Barghouti’s sons, Arab and Sharaf, with Nadeen Ayoub.
Fadwa Barghouti pictured in a photograph with Nadeen Ayoub posted years ago to social media, but later deleted.
The Post also reviewed conversations with individuals who know her and said they attended the wedding. It is unclear whether Ayoub is even still present in the baby’s life, as most of her connections to the family have been meticulously scrubbed from the internet.
But the wannabe beauty queen once shared glimpses of her married life on since-deleted Instagram accounts under the handles @nadeenayo and @nadeenayfitness, posting “surprise flowers from my groom-to-be” and tagging Sharaf’s page.
She is a self-proclaimed fitness instructor, and an investigation by The Post revealed she taught workout classes at the Ramallah-based gym “IQ Fitness,” which is owned by Qassam Barghouthi, another of the convicted terrorist’s sons who also spent time in Israeli prison before he was acquitted of carrying out an ambush and four attempted killings.
There a many photos of Ayoub on the gym’s Instagram and Facebook pages, with at least one post referring to her as “Nadeen Barghouti.”
It is unclear whether she is still married or present in the baby’s life.
There a many photos of Ayoub on the gym’s Instagram and Facebook pages, with at least one post referring to her as “Nadeen Barghouti.”
Her current verified account associated with her Miss Palestine title, @nadeen.m.ayoub, still followed one of the private pages linked to her since-deleted posts as of last week. However, that changed after The Post reached out to the verified account for comment.
Not everything vanished. In a still-public 2016 post, a relative congratulated her marriage: “Congrats to Nadeen Ayoub on her marriage, love you,” wrote her sister, Zina Ayoub.
In another still-online post from Oct. 30, 2019, an apparent Barghouti family member posted a photo of a baby apparently named “Marwan Sharaf Marwan Al-Barghouti,” tagging Ayoub and husband Sharaf.
Her current verified account associated with her Miss Palestine title, @nadeen.m.ayoub, still followed one of the private pages linked to her since-deleted posts as of last week.
Reached for comment, the person who posted the photo denied knowledge of Ayoub’s personal life, explaining they were no longer in contact.
“I strongly apologize for any statement,” the person said. “This is a family matter and I have no right to answer it.”
“May he be raised with your dignity my dears and hopefully he will be like Mr. Marwan the great,” the person wrote.
Multiple responses by family members and friends in the comment section of the post confirmed the connection in messages dated back to 2019.
“Sharaf Marwan Albarghouthi Nadeen Ayoub My sweethearts, a thousand congratulations, may he grow up with your respect,” wrote family member Diana Barghouti.
In a still-public 2016 post, a relative congratulated her marriage: “Congrats to Nadeen Ayoub on her marriage, love you,” wrote her sister, Zina Ayoub.
“A thousand congratulations to the grandson of Commander Marwan Al-Barghouti,” wrote another person.
Controversy
Ayoub’s path to the Miss Universe stage raises as many questions as her family ties.
The self-proclaimed “Miss Palestine” apparently never won — or even entered — a qualifying pageant. The Post could not find any record of a Miss Palestine pageant having been held, the names of any other contestants, or ways for them to have registered to compete.
She also happens to run the Dubai-based Miss Palestine Organization herself, the very group that crowned her. Under Miss Universe rules, individuals can apply to purchase the rights to host a national pageant, creating a title associated with a state to then compete at the international level.
Ayoub competed in a different pageant — Miss Earth — in 2022, but claimed she postponed plans to go to Miss Universe after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack by Hamas, she told The National.
She also reportedly named her child after Marwan Barghouti.
However, her marriage and motherhood would have disqualified her at the time under both the Miss Earth and Miss Universe rules then in place, which banned contestants who had ever been married or given birth. Those restrictions for Miss Universe were only lifted in 2023.
What’s more, her participation in each pageant’s swimsuit competitions raised eyebrows for the incongruence.
Ayoub received publicity this week for making the “empowering” choice to wear a “burkini” — full-coverage swimwear aligned with Islamic principals of modesty — during the Miss Universe pageant. But in 2022, she proudly strutted the Miss Earth stage in a sexy turquoise swimsuit and sky-high heels.
In other pageant photos, she bared even less — rocking an eye-popping, bright purple bikini under a Miss Palestine sash in a glamour shot from that year, as well as a yellow bikini that all Miss Earth 2022 participants wore. Multiple posts of the photos appear to have been deleted, though some remain.
She also happens to run the Dubai-based Miss Palestine Organization herself, the very group that crowned her. @nadeen.m.ayoub/Instagram
Despite her ineligibility, Ayoub placed as second runner-up in the 2022 pageant, winning the “Miss Earth-Water” title. A representative for the pageant did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
“We had the Miss Palestine beauty competition and I got the title,” said Ayoub in the September 2022 interview posted to YouTube. “There hasn’t been another Miss Palestine since 2022, due to the genocide … I wanted to focus more on staying behind the scenes because the spotlight was supposed to be on the people in Palestine who are suffering, rather than me.”
Ayoub’s reference to “genocide” in Gaza has caused outrage in Israel and among its supporters.
Despite her ineligibility, Ayoub placed as second runner-up in the 2022 pageant, winning the “Miss Earth-Water” title. Christopher Alviz / YouTube
But her presence in the competition alone was controversial, even before news of her ties to Barghouti were revealed. There had never before been a “Miss Palestine,” with the title in Miss Universe only springing up following mass pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
Representing a politically charged region in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, critics argued that Palestine “doesn’t exist,” so it shouldn’t be included on the world stage.
“What can I say? Where is Palestine, exactly?” Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli told The Post when asked for comment. “Frankly, I don’t care about Barghouti or Miss Barghouti. There is no Palestinian state; there won’t be a Palestinian state.”
Nadeen Ayoub of Palestine takes part in the National Costume show during the 74th Miss Universe pageant in Bangkok, Thailand, November 19, 2025. REUTERS
Israeli thought leader and former Knesset member Ruth Wasserman Lande said Ayoub’s participation in the pageant aligns with a common “tactic” to spread their ideals across the world.
“It’s already a political statement [to compete as Miss Palestine,]” Wasserman Lande said. “This was very much a tactic in the Islamic Revolution, and its been happening for years — the infiltration of islamist ideas, which have nothing to do at all with liberalism, into liberal culture.”
“Beauty contestants is not an Islamic idea, it’s not a Palestinian idea. On the contrary, and what they’re doing is taking messaging, ideas and so on from the cultural world of young liberal minds and using it.”
A preliminary Miss Universe competition also raised eyebrows after Ayoub posted an unsanctioned video shot from an angle that appears to show reigning Miss Israel, Melanie Shiraz, glaring at Miss Palestine — which was later reposted by anti-Israel celebrity Bella Hadid.
But a look at side-by-side footage with the pageant’s licensed livestream reveals Miss Israel was standing well behind Miss Palestine, and a momentary glance to her direct right was interpreted by Ayoub’s supporters as a look of disgust at the controversial beauty queen.
“Head turning is not a news story,” Shiraz wrote with a video showing the side-by-side footage. “This platform is meant to empower women. Using it to tear women down, sharing images without consent, and staying silent while a fellow competitor is attacked all undermine what we are meant to represent.”
Representing a politically charged region in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, critics argued that Palestine “doesn’t exist,” so it shouldn’t be included on the world stage. Melanie Shiraz Asor/ Instagram
“Private photography or content capture during official events is also not permitted under competition guidelines, and respecting those rules matters. As representatives of countries in conflict, we have a responsibility to model dignity, peace, and hope — not pettiness, hatred, or deepening divides,” Miss Israel added.
Terror or politics?
Israeli officials fear freeing Marwan Barghouti would repeat history after Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas mastermind behind the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, rose to power following his own release in a 2011 prisoner swap.
While his Fatah-aligned al-Aqsa Brigade has been designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US, European Union, Canada, Japan and New Zealand, the pro-Palestinian camps see Barghouti as a political leader.
While in prison, he famously led a nearly 900-person hunger strike — until Israeli prison services released video of Barghouti secretly eating in his cell, purportedly taken during the protest. Barghouti’s supporters deny the video’s authenticity.
Marwan Barghouti, a prominent leader of the Palestinian uprising, enters the Tel Aviv courtroom Thursday, Nov. 21, 2002. AP
Pro-Palestine news reports have dubbed him the “Palestinian Mandela” and asserted he could be “is the only person popular enough to unify the Palestinian factions under the Palestinian Authority in postwar Gaza and the West Bank.”
His family used that angle in an attempt to secure his release, writing President Trump — who, coincidentally, previously owned the Miss Universe pageant organization — last month to advocate for him to be freed.
“Mr. President, a true partner awaits you. Someone who can realize our shared dream of a just and lasting peace in the region,” the family wrote, according to The Jerusalem Post. “Help free Marwan Barghouti for the freedom of the Palestinian people and peace for future generations.”
Pro-Palestine news reports have dubbed him the “Palestinian Mandela.”
While Ayoub did not respond to questions regarding whether she supports her jailed father-in-law, she has previously admitted she is competing in the pageant for a political platform in an interview with The National, a United Arab Emirates newspaper.
“Miss Universe is a huge platform, and there’s a big responsibility in speaking out about what’s happening in the Gaza. No one should be silent about the injustice that’s happening. This is the time when Palestine needs to be represented on all platforms everywhere.”
On Tuesday, she revealed her ancestral costume featured the al Aqsa mosque, a focal point of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and namesake of Barghouti’s terrorist militant brigade. The mosque, near the golden “Dome of the Rock,” is located on Temple Mount — where the first and second temples of the Jewish faith once stood.
On Tuesday, she revealed her ancestral costume featured the al Aqsa mosque.
She also included the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulcre — where Christians believe Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected — to show “our coexistence and unity,” Ayoub said in an Instagram post.
However, there was no reference to coexistence with Jews in the post, and the image left out the Jewish holy site of the Western Wall just next to the al Aqsa mosque.
Ayoub, the Miss Palestine organization, the Miss Universe and Miss Earth organizations, Fadwa Barghouti, multiple other Barghouti family members and the Israeli Embassy did not respond to requests for comment.