Bar Refaeli Dodged Israeli Army Duty: General

Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Bar Refaeli is under fire for reportedly dodging the two years of military service required in her native Israel.

According to Sky News, an Israel Defense Forces major-general claims Refaeli married a friend of the family to evade military service, then divorced him shortly thereafter. Refaeli is the on-off girlfriend of Leonardo DiCaprio.

Israeli law exempts married would from serving in the Army.

Major General Avi Zamir is calling for a boycott of all products endorsed by the 24-year-old, saying "At the end of the day, she is the one who has to look at herself in the mirror....We are a society that has an army, and Bar Refaeli doesn't have to participate in ads for [Israeli clothing company] Fox and, if she advertises Fox, then you shouldn't buy their products."

Refaeli's mother shot back, saying: "The general is a disgrace. Before they attack Bar they should check the government and see who in government did not join the army. Bar will continue succeeding. We are the sort of people who do and succeed, and they will continue talking."

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Comments

[ethancorso]

06:45 PM on 01/15/2010

Good for her.

[tanya1111]

05:47 PM on 01/15/2010

Good for her. If people forced me point guns at palestinians I would dodge that too.

[philoffal]

05:25 PM on 01/15/2010

IDF on brink of abyss over draft dodging

Army's Personnel Directorate chief says number of Jewish youths evading military service may reach 40% over next decade

The situation, he added, can turn even worse: "Taking into consideration Israeli Arab youths, we are facing a situation in which 70% of youths will not enlist to military to national service.

"Even now the notion of 'the people's army' is fraying and of these trends continue we'll be on the brink of an abyss," he said.

According to IDF data for 2008, 72% of teenage Jewish boys and 54% of girls enlist in the military, placing draft dodging rates at 37%.

[Wisdo]

08:46 AM on 01/18/2010

Israels institutionalised racisim, while considered necessary post WW2 is making the country dysfunctional in 2010.

Perhaps if they tried democracy they wouldnt need to force people to join the army.

[Kelly Cloud]

04:59 PM on 01/15/2010

I wouldn't do it either.

[forty8r]

04:05 PM on 01/15/2010

As if all real hot looking woman everywhere don't get any special privilages?

[tanya1111]

05:48 PM on 01/15/2010

Yeah you don't even half to be half as hot to get a free ride!

[morchid]

03:42 PM on 01/15/2010

while i realy against any resistance who use violence against civilian including israel

but in israel all the people serves in the army :) so no civilian

[kkrimmer]

12:38 PM on 01/15/2010

Refaeli's mother shot back, saying: "The general is a disgrace. Before they attack Bar they should check the government and see who in government did not join the army.
----

what does the govt military dodgers have to do with her daughters decisions?

[mattwg440]

12:58 PM on 01/15/2010

If a person/entity claims to exert authority over my person, there are several requirements they must meet to assure my cooperation, first among them not being hypocritical.

[mikefina]

11:18 PM on 01/18/2010

President Obama doesn't support the DC voucher program allowing poor children to attend Sidwell Friends--yet he sends his daughters there. All the while saying Public Schools are the answer to those other-kids educational needs.

Stil cooperating with Obama?

[grn1]

11:27 AM on 01/15/2010

"At the end of the day, she is the one who has to look at herself in the mirror....We are a society that has an army, and Bar Refaeli doesn't have to participate in ads for [Israeli clothing company] Fox and, if she advertises Fox, then you shouldn't buy their products."

Looking at herself in the mirror would be a real punishment general. Smart lady, avoiding criminal justice

[banja]

11:04 AM on 01/15/2010

mandatory military service should be unconstitutional, Isreal should have a voluntary army like the rest of the civilised world.

[longfeltwant]

12:40 PM on 01/15/2010

Different situations call for different rules. I'm not an Israeli so I wouldn't deign to proffer my ignorance as advice. I'll let the Israeli's decide what's best for them.

But you, you choose a different path than I.

[DannyGee]

02:51 PM on 01/15/2010

says one with no experience or education on Israel.

[johnnygoodwud]

09:46 AM on 01/15/2010

yesterday i wrote a comment how i avoided the draft during the vietnam war by having braces put on my teeth. i had a terrible overbit which was wearing my teeth out, but i knew that having them put on would exempt me from the draft, honestly my main motivation. my father had served in WWII, and his brother, my uncle who also served died in WWII. many have commented on what i did. some called me a partriot, some called me a coward. i think i am neither. i attended college at western mich. univ. and we protested the war, as did many college students at the time with peaceful sit-ins, literally stopping traffic in streets around the univ. we never hurt or tried to harm other people during our protests. we were in the same conference as kent state, and many of you remember what happened there, with the nat. guard opening fire on a group of peaceful protesters. the vietnam war divided this country, and my stance on the war divided my family. it took many yrs., and many long talks with my dad, for him to finally understand and accept what i did. not all wars are alike, and as someone said during the last election, i am not against all wars, just that one.

[greginwva]

10:28 AM on 01/15/2010

Johnny, I agree with you because, as you said, it was Vietnam, not World War 2 . I could care less about Israel's policy but it is interesting that a General is making press releases attacking a particular citizen like he's doing.I cant recall ever seeing a serving US General do something like that. Thats chick's a fox though huh?

[Nate the Heretic]

10:58 AM on 01/15/2010

Johnny,
You did what you thought was right. That's you're opinion so that's you're right. I wouldn't dream of calling you a coward. That you protested it speaks volumes for your character. And I also agree with GreginWVA. This chick is smokin' hot.
Peace and love.

[BlackJAC]

09:18 AM on 01/15/2010

Rabbinical students are excused from serving in the IDF, too, so methinks the general just wants to get next to the shiksa like the majority of heterosexual men.

[azbird]

05:46 PM on 01/15/2010

Blackjac do you even know what a shiksa is? Jewish women are not referred to as shiksas.

[BlackJAC]

09:00 PM on 01/15/2010

It's Yiddish for "blonde woman," so unless somebody renamed Bar's hair color, it's an accurate term.

[bermanator]

08:38 AM on 01/15/2010

Esti Ginzburg is better looking and actually completed her IDF service...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009_swimsuit/models/esti-ginzburg/

[BlackJAC]

09:40 AM on 01/15/2010

Two words, sir: Noa Tishby.

[equianimi]

10:53 AM on 01/15/2010

I agree, and she's all the more hotter because she actually did serve instead of pulling a Cheney/Bush/(enter republican politicians name here)

[mattwg440]

01:07 PM on 01/15/2010

serving standing armies (especially israel's)

shows either a lack of critical thinking skills (the younger you are the less you have acquired) or an indifference to life. good for her

cheney/bush et al are different, they had critical thinking skills to know better AND a disregard for life, they just wanted someone else's kid to do the dirty work they and/our their patriarchs planned

[DannyGee]

02:55 PM on 01/15/2010

you might learn in future years that military service in Israel is obligatory while in the US it is voluntary.

[rabiddog6708]

07:46 AM on 01/15/2010

George Bu$h dodged Nam by going into Texas AIr National Guard and became President, so Bar's future is probably OK.

[Nate the Heretic]

11:11 AM on 01/15/2010

I'd take her over the Shrub or SarahPain ANY DAY.

[ZenJu]

07:39 AM on 01/15/2010

Got mixed feelings on this one. The Army is a normal part of our lives in Israel; our citizen army is something that's a sad necessity in a very rough neighbourhood where most of our neighbours have, for decades, refused to recognise our very right to live. Few really know just how tiny our little land is, and how small we are in both numbers and area compared to the (mostly) hostile region in which we live. Although I'm not happy with some of the things our government has done and do not wish to see the occupation last any longer, I also realise that "we have the wolf by the ears"--there are quite a few folks in the West Bank, Gaza and beyond who are more than ready to kill and destroy us if given a chance. Many Westerners do not know (or care to know) that Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad will NEVER truly accept the existence of Israel. Our army has high standards--perhaps the highest in the world--and we do believe in justice for those who do wrong. Our democracy holds the military accountable, and that's something worthy.

[BlackJAC]

09:39 AM on 01/15/2010

It's a necessity because Israel simply doesn't have a large enough population to justify voluntary service like the US does.

[mattwg440]

01:14 PM on 01/15/2010

dude, your government is selling you out. Like ours is doing to us actually.The time for the moderates has passed. As we sit and say, they want to hurt us, we bomb their civilians with drones, as you say Hamas wants to kill you, you close the palestinians off to the world, forbidding goods to go through,and killing THEM.

is the way to prevent our demise by using our far superior armies to at once cry out our vulnerability whilst resting our iron boot on the necks of these scary scary threats?

[phute]

06:02 PM on 01/16/2010

Well put.

[Saddler1]

01:49 AM on 01/15/2010

I'm laughing at the idea of the General being angry with her. I'm sure it's oh-so-painful for her to look at herself in the mirror. He should be congratulating her on escaping one of the more vicious militaries in the world.