Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Bar Refaeli Gets Tough With Phone Company

Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli had her day in court today. This morning she testified in an Israeli court against Sunny, the company owned by Ilan Ben Dov that imports Samsung phones to the country. The case stems from a complaint Refaeli filed against the importer in March 2009, claiming that it used unedited video footage of her without her knowledge.

“It’s not just a matter of money,” Refaeli said on the witness stand. “I even do things for free if it is good for my reputation.” Still, the model is suing Sunny for NIS 4.4 million ($1,163,000) for breach of contract in relation to an ad she filmed for the company in 2006. Refaeli claims that the company used her image for purposes not covered in her contract when it broadcast unedited footage of her on the Tapuz network. The model is upset that the photos “did not undergo any editing to ensure that they would guard her modesty and prevent any insult to her honor.”

Refaeli’s mother Tzipi also testified in the case. She reportedly said that although she normally doesn’t record conversations with business partners, she did record several with the people from Sunny with whom the family dealt. “I had a feeling that I was dealing with dishonest people who were tricking us throughout the filming,” she said.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.