Rana Rasslan

Rana Rasslan is an Israeli former model who won Miss Israel in 1999, the only Arab woman to hold the title.

born 1977Miss Israel 1999First Arab Miss IsraelRepresenting Israel at Miss Universe

Born: 17 March 1977, Haifa
Occupation: artist, model, beauty pageant contestant

Rana Rasslan was born in 1977 in Haifa

Rasslan was born on 17 March 1977 in Wadi Nisnas, a neighborhood of Haifa, where she grew up and went to school. Her father is a Muslim and her mother is a Christian who converted to Islam. She has 2 brothers and a sister.

In 1992 she was second runner-up in the Princess of the North contest, and in 1996 she won the Miss Laylak pageant for Arab women. She later worked as a secretary and did some modeling.

In 1999 she won Miss Israel, becoming the first and only Arab winner, and then represented Israel at Miss Universe. That year she also joined an Israeli delegation to Kosovo war refugee camps in Macedonia. She later studied diamond work and acting, and modeled for designer Roberto Cavalli.

In 2003 she married a businessman from the United Arab Emirates and moved to Dubai. The couple divorced in 2021. She appeared in television programs in 2007 and 2014, and in November 2023 she posted criticism of IDF actions in Gaza.