Miss Israel 2025 Melanie Shiraz. Photo: Simon Soong | Edgar Entertainment

Reigning Miss Israel Melanie Shiraz will not back down from legal threats and attacks on her credibility by organizers of the Miss Israel competition, she told The Algemeiner on Thursday after sharing a trove of evidence backing what she claims is the dishonest process currently being used to select the next titleholder.

“Throughout my reign, concerns were frequently met not with transparency or accountability, but with pressure, intimidation, and attempts to control the narrative. For that reason, seeing legal threats … feels less like a genuine effort to establish the truth and more like a continuation of the very conduct that led me to speak publicly in the first place,” Shiraz, 27, said in a statement shared with The Algemeiner. “My claims have never been based on rumor or speculation. They are based on documents, written messages, recordings, correspondence, and direct communications from the organizers themselves, all of which I am able to substantiate.”

According to Shiraz, there will be no real competition to choose the next Miss Israel. She claimed the process to select Miss Israel 2026 is being manipulated by pageant organizers, who she said have also threatened, intimidated, and tried extorting money from her.

A ‘Predetermined’ Competition

At the center of the controversy is the Miami-based company Edgar Entertainment, owned by Edgar Saakyan. The company told The Algemeiner on Thursday that it held the Miss Universe license for Israel in 2024 and 2025 but handed the franchise over to Miss Israel LLC in January of this year under a multi-year agreement. The Algemeiner asked the company to provide documentation supporting their claim, but Edgar Entertainment has not responded. However, online records show otherwise.

According to a Florida limited liability company (LLC) annual report filed in March 2026, as well as other documentation found online from last year that went into effect in November, Edgar Entertainment LLC is an authorized manager of Miss Israel LLC, indicating it is still in control of the Miss Israel franchise. Saakyan is CEO and co-owner of the Miss Israel organization, and Joseph Shine — whose legal name is Yosef Shmukler — is the president and co-owner, according to the Miss Israel website. Saakyan became national director of Miss Universe Israel in 2024 and introduced himself as such while speaking with The Algemeiner last year shortly after Shiraz was crowned.

A recording of an Edgar Entertainment meeting in Florida shared with The Algemeiner features a producer with the company explained how the 2026 Miss Israel process will have a predetermined winner and is being designed to merely “look like a pageant,” complete with a fake crowning ceremony.

In a statement given to The Algemeiner on Wednesday, attorneys for Miss Israel said they are aware of the recording but did not deny it authenticity. The lawyers said they will explore taking legal action for  a recording of the conversation being shared.

“Rather than directly denying the authenticity of the recording at the center of this controversy, [the organization’s] response focuses heavily on legal threats, cease-and-desist demands, and attacks on my credibility,” Shiraz, who was born and currently lives in Israel, said in response. “If the recording were fabricated, altered, or inauthentic, one would expect that to be the first and most forceful point made. Instead, the response largely sidesteps the substance of what was captured and concentrates on threatening the woman who released it.”

Shiraz claimed she was directly told by pageant organizers there would be no genuine national competition this year to select Miss Israel 2026 unlike in the past two years. The organization “instead intended to present a small group of previously known candidates” and film a fake crowning moment, to mislead the public into thinking that a legitimate and fair competition took place. Three candidates were preselected and the winner would be predetermined, Shiraz said in claims supported by evidence shown to The Algemeiner.

Shiraz said that during her communication with Shine and Edgar Entertainment producer Andrea Valentina, she learned that the three “pre-determined” candidates for this year’s crown are Syrian-Lebanese Jewish attorney Adela Cojab, who was born in Mexico and auditioned to compete in last year’s Miss Universe Israel beauty pageant; Danielle Yablonka, the first runner-up of last year’s pageant; and Miss Israel 2024 first runner-up Abigail Kikirov. All three women were not citizens of Israel when they signed up for the competition this year, Shiraz claimed.

According to Shiraz, she was initially told an announcement about Miss Israel 2026 would be made on Thursday. However, as of Friday, Miss Israel organizers have not publicly shared any news about this year’s titleholder and applications are still being accepted on the website for the Miss Israel organization. Early Friday, The Algemeiner reached out to Edgar Entertainment via email, asking when the 2026 Miss Israel competition will take place or if it has concluded and when the next Miss Israel will be announced. The company has not responded.

The Non-Israeli Miss Israel Process

According to the website for the Miss Israel organization, in order to quality to become Miss Israel 2026, one must provide “proof of Israeli citizenship,” either in the form of an Israeli passport or an Israeli national identity card known as a Teudat Zehut.

However, Shiraz said she learned that the allegedly preselected women vying for the title of Miss Israel 2026 “were not Israeli citizens at the time they originally entered the process.” One woman later obtained Israeli citizenship while others reportedly did not, Shiraz said. She also claimed Saakyar made statements “suggesting that contestants who did not yet hold Israeli citizenship would be encouraged to apply for it if selected.”

“Whether someone qualifies for citizenship under Israeli law is a matter for the State of Israel to determine. It is not a decision for a pageant organization to casually anticipate, facilitate, or build a selection process around,” Shiraz noted. “The fact that a non-Israeli, non-Jewish pageant director would publicly discuss citizenship as something that could potentially be obtained after a contestant is selected raises serious questions about how lightly these issues are being treated. Israeli citizenship is not a procedural obstacle to be addressed after a winner has been chosen. It is a foundational qualification for representing the country in the first place.”

Attorneys for Miss Israel LLC told The Algemeiner on Wednesday that, for the past two years, Miss Israel franchise owners “temporarily expanded eligibility to include women of Jewish identity worldwide as an expression of Jewish peoplehood and solidarity with the State of Israel, particularly in the aftermath of [Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.]”

Shiraz does not think the decision was motivated by “solidarity.”

“Israel is home to millions of women, and there is no shortage of Israeli women who would welcome the opportunity to compete for the chance to represent their country,” she explained. “Expanding the casting process to include non-Israeli Jewish women abroad — all of whom, in the previous two years, were based in the United States or Canada, where the organization itself operates – … suggests a process shaped by convenience and existing geographic proximity to the organizers, with insufficient consideration given to the reputational implications for Israel or to the opportunity denied to Israeli women whose voices, experiences, and connection to Israeli society would naturally form the foundation of authentic national representation.”

“The question is why a title intended to represent Israel appears to have shifted away from finding the strongest representative from within Israeli society and toward accommodating candidates who were already known to the organization,” she added. “When viewed alongside the absence of a genuine competition, that distinction becomes extremely important.”

‘Nonstop Intimidation Tactics’

Shiraz also shared with The Algemeiner documentation and screenshots of conversations detailing financial demands, threats to her title, and intimidation that she has experiencing while representing the Jewish state as Miss Israel. When she applied to compete for the title last year, contestants were led to believe that the organization “would provide the resources and support necessary to successfully represent Israel on the international stage,” she said.

“After winning, I quickly discovered that the reality was very different,” Shiraz added. “I was told that representing Israel was effectively a full-time responsibility, limiting my ability to earn income elsewhere, while simultaneously being forced to personally absorb substantial expenses associated with my participation and representation.”

Shiraz launched a personal GoFundMe campaign to help with expenses during her reign because she was forced to finance “significant portions” of her own representation. She raised more than $17,000. The Miss Israel organization then tried to take control and pull money out of the fundraising campaign, according to Shiraz. Saakyan also wanted Shiraz to shut down her GoFundMe because it made Edgar Entertainment look bad for publicizing that the company was not covering all of Shiraz’s expenses.

“The director attempted to pressure me into using money raised for my own participation to cover his organization’s expenses, while insisting that I had no right to seek outside support independently from his company,” she said. “This occurred even as I was personally covering expenses on the organization’s behalf, with the understanding that I would be reimbursed once the company secured enough donor support to become solvent and pay its bills.”

In a complaint sent to the Miss Universe organization in February, which was seen by The Algemeiner, Shiraz wrote of Saakyan: “From early on, he implied that the money I raised shouldn’t really be mine and should either be transferred to the organization or used to reimburse them for their expenses —  even those unrelated to me.” She added that the situation escalated right after she arrived in Thailand to compete in the 2025 Miss Universe competition.

“While I was alone, abroad, and preparing to compete, he began threatening to revoke my title and issued ultimatums tied to the GoFundMe,” she wrote in part. “The timing and power imbalance were extreme, and he bombarded me with nonstop intimidation tactics in the days before the competition … No woman should be put in a position where her title, finances, or ability to return home are used as leverage. Edgar, on numerous occasions, has also insulted my intelligence, belittled me, or used otherwise manipulative tactics in attempts to get leverage when he wanted me to comply with his demands.”

Saakyan also tried to control Shiraz’s social media activity, telling her what to post, share, and say, according to correspondence between the two that was seen by The Algemeiner.

In a statement, the Miss Israel organization described the GoFundMe as “an unauthorized fundraising campaign that created the public impression that the titleholder had been left without organizational support.”

Alleged Extortion

Shiraz said Saakyan also attempted to extort approximately $45,000 from her for expenses “unrelated to me personally and allegedly incurred by the organization before I was ever crowned.” When making the financial demands they cited an agreement she never signed, Shiraz said. At the same time, they owed her money.

“Comparatively small sums that I contend were owed to me remained unpaid for months, while I was informed by the organization’s own financial backer that there was reportedly little or no liquid capital available,” Shiraz wrote to Miss Universe organizers. “I reported these events because, taken together, they raised serious concerns about financial conduct, coercion, and the use of financial pressure as a means of control.”

Shiraz shared that she has only been reimbursed $900 during her reign as Miss Israel. She said she was forced to ask more than 10 times for the money over the course of several month before finally getting paid. She was allegedly compensated only after she told Saaykar and Shine that demanding $45,000 from her is extortion and that she would not back down about being reimbursed. Most other expenses she paid for out of pocket.

The candidates for Miss Israel 2026 were also warned they would receive little or close to no funding from the Miss Israel organization and would have to work to raise funds and the reputation of Edgar Entertainment, according to evidence shared with The Algemeiner.

“This raises broader questions about whether representatives are being selected to serve Israel or whether they are increasingly expected to serve the financial interests of the organization,” Shiraz said.

In the complaint submitted to the Miss Universe organization in February, Shiraz also discussed facing “financial extortion” and threats by Saakyan. Her complaint was ignored.

“All parties involved play a part in the systematic abuse of women, which is something I hope to draw attention to,” she told The Algemeiner, referring to not only the Miss Israel organization but also Edgar Entertainment and Miss Universe.

After Shiraz spoke out on Wednesday about the selection process for Miss Israel 2026 and her own experiences as reigning Miss Israel in an Instagram video, Saakyan posted cryptic messages on his personal Instagram Story, including “Let’s dance” and “I am the king, I will punish you.” It’s unclear if the messages were a response to Shiraz’s public claims, but she said they should be “viewed in the context of a year of threats, pressure, retaliation, fundraising disputes, and attempts to silence criticism.”

Earlier this week, Saaykan posted a photo on Instagram of himself posing with Ofir Korsia, Miss Israel Universe 2024, but she is wearing the sash of the current Miss Israel, which belongs to Shiraz. Saakyan is posing in the same photo with Cojab, who is wearing a sash that says “Miss Israel USA,” a non-official title given to her by Edgar Entertainment. Her sash even says the company name.

The Miss Israel official Instagram page also posted a video of Cojab wearing the same sash while walking the runway at a Jewish-themed swimwear runway show that was part of Miami Swim Week presented in partnership with the Miss Israel organization. Shiraz said she believes the social media posts were uploaded in an effort to confuse the public and present other women as “Miss Israel” to discredit her. She added that she was not invited to the event.

Former Miss Universe Estonia 2025 Brigitta Schaback commented on Shiraz’s Instagram video on Wednesday, saying the information shared by Miss Israel “sounds all very familiar.” Schaback renounced her title last year after stating that her values and work ethic did not align with those of her national director. At the time, she also reportedly posted a series of messages on her Instagram Story in which she claimed she was encouraged to “stay silent and obey” during her Miss Universe experience. Individuals working with Edgar Entertainment acknowledged the company’s involvement with the Miss Estonia pageant in a recording of a company meeting shared with The Algemeiner.

The Miss Universe organization did not respond to The Algemeiner‘s request for comment concerning Shiraz’s claims about the Miss Israel 2026 process and her accusations regarding behavior displayed by Saaykar and Edgar Entertainment.

Editor’s note: After publication of this story, the Miss Israel organization released an official statement saying that, effective immediately, Shiraz is “no longer authorized to represent, speak on behalf of, or act in an official capacity for the Miss Israel organization.” It described Shiraz’s claims as “demonstrably inaccurate” and “misleading.”

The statement did not directly address the evidence provided by Shiraz but claimed the organization had documentation, communications, and other records that “contradict several of the allegations” and may be provided to “appropriate parties when necessary.”

The Miss Israel organization accused Shiraz of causing “repeated public controversies that generated reputational harm to the Miss Israel franchise” and “conduct that undermined trust between the titleholder and organizational leadership.”

According to the Miss Israel organization, it sought “constructive solutions” to resolve the issues raised by Shiraz and provided “extensive organization support” to her, including opportunities to participate in the formal transfer of Miss Israel to the next winner.

“We remain proud of the work accomplished in restoring Israel’s presence in the Miss Universe system and are excited to continue building the organization’s future,” the statement concluded. “The organization considers this matter closed and will remain focused on supporting the next generation of Israeli representatives rather than engaging in ongoing public disputes.”