Miss Palestine Nadeen Ayoub was married to the son of arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, The Jerusalem Post was able to independently confirm after it was reported by the New York Post.
Ayoub is the first-ever Miss Palestine to compete in the Miss Universe competition. She claims to be a US-Canadian citizen living in Dubai, but an extensive search through social media revealed that she was, until 2020, at least, a fitness instructor at Carmel Gym in Ramallah. Also known as IQ Fitness, the gym is owned by Qassam Barghouti, another of Marwan’s sons.
While most of the posts refer to Ayoub as Nadeen Ayoub, a few refer to her as Nadeen Barghouti, including one on July 7, 2018, and another on July 4, 2019.
A deep dive revealed that Ayoub married Sharaf Barghouti in 2016. Sharaf’s father, Marwan, used to lead Fatah and is serving five life sentences for his role in the murder of Israelis during the Second Intifada. Despite Hamas’s continual requests to have him included in prisoner swaps, Israel has refused to release him.
On July 23, 2016, Fadwa Barghouti – the wife of Marwan – posted a Facebook message on the occasion of Ayoub’s wedding to Sharaf Barghouti. “I am here today to celebrate the marriage of your beloved Sharaf and his kind and noble bride, Nadeen, whom we love,” she wrote to her imprisoned husband.
Miss Palestine gave birth to grandson of Fatah terrorist Marwan Barghouti
Ayoub is also mentioned in a profile of graduates of Birzeit University in Ramallah in 2018. “We congratulate Nadina al-Barghouti on the occasion of her graduation from Birzeit University, majoring in geography.”
Then, on October 30, 2019, Fadwa posted a picture of her son, Sharaf, with his newborn son, named Marwan Sharaf Barghouti (named for his grandfather). The comments are filled with congratulations to Sharaf and Nadeen Ayoub.
It is not clear what happened to her husband or baby; however, she appears to be using her maiden name now.
Fadwa posted pictures of the baby until 2022, and after that, she has mainly posted about her husband.
Sharaf Barghouti appears to work at an insurance company in Ramallah.
The rest of her online presence appears to be wiped of any connection with the above individuals.
According to Abu Dhabi-based The National, Ayoub was originally crowned Miss Palestine in 2022. However, despite competing in Miss Earth, the New York Post reported that no evidence could be found to suggest she had ever competed for the title of Miss Palestine.
Speaking to The National, she said: “After Miss Earth, I was supposed [to] go to Miss Universe, but I postponed it because I did not want to go when genocide was happening. 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.... There hasn’t been another Miss Palestine since 2022, due to the genocide.”
Given Ayoub was married and had a child, she would have actually been unable to compete in Miss Universe 2022, as the pageant had a restriction on married women and mothers.
This was lifted in 2023.