Israeli model Yael Shelbia. Photo: Courtesy of ITM Models/Yossi Michaeli.

Yael Shelbia, an Israeli model ranked as the world’s “most beautiful face” in 2020, became the first Israeli to appear on the cover of an Emirati magazine Monday.

“I’m so happy to be a part of this historic cover,” Shelbia wrote in an Instagram post. “Thank you @lofficielarabia & @laishamag Together we are stronger.”

 

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L’Officiel Arabia’s February issue features the Tel Aviv-born model with the headline “Peace of History,” a nod to the normalization accords signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates in Sep. 2020.

In an interview with The Algemeiner after her photo shoot for the cover spread, Shelbia said that the February issue was a sign of progress.

“As a Jewish, religious IDF soldier and a model, I’m so very honored to be the first one to participate in such a historical cover,” Shelbia, 19, told The Algemeiner in December. “I hope that in the near future, we will be privileged to extend the peace in the Middle East.”

Boba Stanic, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, told the UAE’s Gulf News, “I’m proud that we are the first in the region to present not only a cover with an Israeli model, but moreover provide a firm endorsement of the talents of a country that has previously been inaccessible to the UAE.”