Haifa Wehbe denies role in Gaza-bound voyage

By Habib Toumi, Bahrain Bureau Chief

Lebanese superstar Haifa Wehbe and Hezbollah have denied media reports that the religious formation had banned the singer from boarding Mariam, the Gaza-bound ship carrying humanitarian aid.

Haifa said that she did not sign up to be among the activists planning to board the ship to break the Gaza blockade, but added that the media claims (ar) about Hezbollah rejection of her participation were malicious.

According to Nasreen Dhawahra, Haifa’s media officer, the singer “was not even aware of a Lebanese ship trying to reach the besieged Gaza Strip.”

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Ibrahim Al Mousawi, Hezbollah public relations officer, said in Lebanon that the allegations about the Gaza ship and Haifa Wahbe were untrue.

Kuwaiti daily Al Siyassah this week reported that “senior Hezbollah leaders have categorically rejected a request by singer Haifa Wehbe to join the activists who will sail within days from Lebanon to Gaza carrying humanitarian aid”.

The paper attributed the report to “extremely well-informed sources”, but did not name them.

According to the paper, Haifa’s request was conveyed to the journey organizer Yasser Qashlaq, a Palestinian businessman living in Syria, who consulted Hezbollah.

He was told that Haifa’s presence was not welcome on the grounds that “nudity, degradation and immodest clothing would harm the reputation of all the women participating in the journey.”

Haifa, who at the age of 16 won a beauty contest in South Lebanon before becoming the “most beautiful young woman in Lebanon” in 1995, has often caused stirs in the Arab world through her provocative outfits.

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