Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

‘Draft Dodger’ Bar Refaeli Slammed for Ad Campaign

A member of the Knesset Finance Committee criticized an Israeli clothing chain for hiring supermodel Bar Refaeli to represent it since she dodged military service.

Elazar Stern of the Hatnuah Party berated Fox clothing chain CEO Harel Wizel during a Knesset Finance Committee meeting on April 21, during a debate on a proposal to reduce the import tax on textiles.

Stern, who is a former Israel Defense Forces general, told Wizel that Fox had no right to ask the government for tax breaks after hiring someone who avoided military service.

“Don’t you talk about reductions and the good of the people while you employ a draft dodger,” Stern said, Israeli media reported.

Wizel called Stern “disrespectful” and pointed out that his son finished basic training and his daughter also served in the military.

Refaeli married, and shortly after divorced, a family friend in order to leave the IDF and pursue her modeling career.

Last month, IDF officials criticized the Foreign Ministry for releasing a public relations campaign starring Refaeli.

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.