No-Fly Zone for Bar Refaeli Wedding Is Scrapped
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
A declared no-fly zone over the wedding of supermodel Bar Refaeli was canceled by Israel’s transportation minister.
“The skies belong to all Israeli citizens and we can’t offer special treatment for this event over other events,” Transportation Minister Israel Katz said Sunday. “We must maintain a semblance of equality in approving flights.”
Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority on Friday had declared the four-square-mile airspace over the site of the wedding in the Carmel Forest in northern Israel a no-fly zone.
Five drones, two helicopters and an observation balloon are scheduled to circle the area as part of the wedding – including photographing the affair and bringing the couple to the wedding, according to Israeli reports, which suggested that the request to close the area to other aircraft was a safety issue.
Uri Peretz, owner of the helicopters hired by the couple, told the Hebrew-language news website Ynet on Monday that the company plans file a petition in court in order to close the airspace
Refaeli is scheduled to marry Israeli businessman Adi Ezra, whose family owns the Israeli food importing company Neto ME Holdings, on Thursday evening. The no-fly zone would have been in effect from Thursday at 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday.
Refaeli dated American actor Leonardo DiCaprio from 2006 to 2011.
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