Yityish Aynaw, 22, was part of a gala dinner hosted by Shimon Peres, Israel’s president during Mr Obama’s Middle East trip. She recently became the first Israeli of Ethiopian origin to win Israel’s premier beauty queen contest.
When asked about the US president, she replied, “He’s an exciting man, a world-class hunk, charming and an extraordinary gentleman.”
She added that she did not think Michelle Obama, the First Lady, would be jealous.
Mr Obama reportedly told Ms Aynaw: “You are very beautiful … Michelle would have been very happy to be as tall as you are.”
Ms Aynaw, who emigrated to Israel from Ethiopia with her Jewish grandparents after the death of her mother when she was 12, earlier this month said Mr Obama was a role model “who broke down barriers, a source of inspiration”.
At 22 years old, Aynaw was working as a sales clerk when a friend entered her name into Israel’s beauty pageant.
She has lived in Israel since she was 10, when she was orphaned and went to live with her grandparents.
She recalled going to an Israeli boarding school without knowing a word of Hebrew and said some of the kids there made fun of her Ethiopian name.
‘What is “Yitayish?” This is my name. but it sounds weird,’ she told reporter in an interview. ‘There were times they’d call me “Tayish.” In Hebrew that’s a kind of animal. You know?’ More than a quarter of all Israeli TV viewers watched Aynaw, who became an army officer after graduation; win her crown a couple weeks ago.
‘It’s time that someone from my community, someone with my skin color, who is Israeli just like everyone else, represent the country,’ she said. ‘I feel like I made history, that I blazed a trail.’
