JNS
“Just to think, not too long ago I was in the middle of nowhere with a tactical vest and a weapon,” said 22-year-old Omer Halabi.
When the 22-year-old former Israeli paratrooper and national bodybuilding champion was first contacted by the organizers of the Mister Universe contest, he had not even heard about the competition.
Omer Halabi was getting ready for his third bodybuilding competition after being discharged from his compulsory military service when representatives of the 2025 Mister Universe competition, which will be held in Hollywood, Calif., and will run from November 15-23, reached out to him this spring, having viewed photos of the Israeli athlete on his Instagram page.
“At first I did not understand what they wanted from me,” Halabi recounted on Sunday in a Tel Aviv interview with JNS. “I didn’t know about the competition at all.”
Now the inadvertent contestant is about to make history as the first Israeli to take part in the competition.
"I am going to make history by representing Israel at this international competition, and it feels like an especially heavy responsibility at this time," Halabi said.
(Mister Universe Israel 2024, Ariel Ben-attar, was invited to participate in last year's international event in California, but he decided for personal reasons not to attend.)
Hate resurfaces over bodybuilding contest
Halabi is already confronting antisemitic backlash and has been subject to online hate after he posted news of his selection to the bodybuilding competition on his social media page.
His Instagram post, which got some 250,000 views, elicited a wave of antisemitic and anti-Israel responses, as well as menacing messages sent to him privately.
“It saddens me that there are such ignorant people who simply follow the herd,” said Halabi, declaring himself unfazed. “I simply ignore them.”
In light of the threats, he has requested Israeli state security for the trip, but has received no response to date.
“What I am going to represent is not just beauty, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I am going to represent our country and our values, and to show the good of Israeli society, because we really want good for everyone,” he said.
A sport shaping his life
It was a teenage decision to turn to sport that helped shape his life’s course.
At age 16, Halabi, who lives in the southern Israeli town of Meitar, near Beersheva, decided to start working out.
“I was a skinny kid, weighing 56 kilos [123 pounds], who wanted more abs and didn’t have a lot of self-confidence,” he recounted.
Halabi started working out by himself and then with a trainer, who saw a sports potential in the teen, only to be interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led him to pause his training amid nationwide lockdowns. He later restarted his training and went on to win third place at the WNBF-Israel, the Israeli Championship in Natural Bodybuilding, at age 18.
Fresh from his victory, Halabi enlisted in the IDF as a combat soldier in the paratroopers. After being sidelined by a leg injury, he completed his compulsory army service before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that triggered the nearly two-year-old war in Gaza.
Halabi turned back to his interrupted bodybuilding career, won the national championship and was starting to prep for the organization’s international competition when the Mister Universe representatives came calling over Zoom.
Changing life trajectory
As he brushes up his English and social-media skills around his five-day-a-week, 1.5-hour workouts ahead of the contest, the black-haired, green-eyed Halabi, who at 82.4 kilos (182 pounds) and just under 6 feet (1.81 meters) is an imposing figure. In addition to his rigorous exercise regime, he measures every meal he eats, and it shows.
Halabi, who is single, will attend the U.S. competition with his family, who, like him, knew nothing of it just months ago.
He noted that, like at the Eurovision Song Contest, the public impacts the voting of the competition, which has more than 60 contestants from as many countries, including Iran. Halabi will provide updates on his Instagram page for his international supporters and fans, including his army buddies.
The winner of the contest will get a one-year modeling agency contract in Los Angeles, which is his new dream.
“It is amazing how one decision in life can change your destiny,” Halabi said. “Just to think, not too long ago, I was in the middle of nowhere with a tactical vest and a weapon. Life takes you where it takes you.”
