Bar Refaeli is an Israeli citizen, and her home country is not happy with her at all. I actually thought the Israeli authorities would have been pissed about the fact that she weaseled out of the compulsory military service required of every Israeli citizen, but as it turns out, it was a money issue that got Bar Refaeli in the end. While Bar is an Israeli citizen, for tax purposes she claimed that she lived abroad… when really she kept a variety of homes in Israel? Something like that. All they’re saying is that she failed to pay taxes on “dozens of millions of shekels” worth of income. Girl got arrested! They arrested her mom too!! Ooooh, my mother would just kill me if she got arrested for something I did.
Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli has been arrested for allegedly evading millions of dollars worth of taxes by lying about where she lived, Israeli authorities said Thursday. She’s also suspected of receiving more than $257,000 in free benefits, including luxury apartments and cars, that she never reported, the Agence France-Presse reported. Refaeli’s mom, Zipora, was also busted, Israel’s Tax Authority said, adding that the unreported income amounted to “dozens of millions of shekels.”
To avoid paying taxes, Refaeli and her mom claimed that the model lived outside of the country, the Tax Authority charged. Refaeli, who was Israeli’s highest-paid model in 2013, was staying in luxury apartments registered under her mother’s and brother’s names — and used a free Range Rover and Lexus. The top model and her mom were also given other “celebrity discounts,” like free interior decorating, that should’ve been reported, Israeli authorties alleged.
Refaeli and her mom’s home was raided this week — and on Thursday they were arrested and released on bail. They were forced to fork over their passports and can’t leave Israel without permission for 180 days. Refaeli’s lawyers declined to comment.
While Bar is no longer working as steadily as many of the younger models, she still works and she still needs to travel. So the fact that the Israeli authorities are holding on to her passport has got to hurt. Beyond that, this seems like a pretty obvious tax dodge – putting real estate in your family members’ names when the properties really belong to you, not declaring free “gifts” and heavily discounted items, etc. Since I don’t know much about Israeli tax law, my guess is that Bar and her mom will have to pay some hefty back taxes AND fines just to get out of this. And even then, there’s a chance one or both of them could end up doing some minor jail time, depending on the egregiousness of the tax evasion (which sounds extensive right now, but who knows).
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I don’t get why rich people dodge their taxes. So pointless and greedy
Bar hates the Israeli government and in fact, I don’t believe she likes her country at all. When she dodged military service she was very clear that living in New York and making lots of money was way more important than “dying for your country”. She has no doubt been dodging taxes in order to deprive the government of money that directly funds the military. Israel has a huge military budget. It supersedes all other budgets, although Israel still has excellent schools and medical facilities and absorbed thousands of Ethiopian Jews over several years. But if you’re a Left-wing Israeli it has to really bite a big one to pay taxes into a system that you are morally at odds with. But hey, them’s the shakes! Bar doesn’t have to live there. If you choose to live there, you need to pay.
“Bar doesn’t have to live there.”
She had no choice in the end.
In 2009/ she declared herself a non Israeli non-dom, and instead as an LA resident (no doubt banking on becoming a permanent one via Leo) in order to shirk taxes.
Her mother was an IT girl who was one of Warren Beatty’s conquest in the 70s and has dined out on that story since.
She hoped her daughter Bar would do better but this time get her own Hollywood star to marry her.
Leo dumped her, and Bar was no Gisele.
She did not go to greater heights career wise, but found her tail between her legs.
All the digs she made at her home country were forgotten and she found a convenient ‘new love’ for Israel.
I think by now they could prove that Bar lived in Israel – now that she married that israeli billionaire. If somebody claims to not live somewhere – try to prove them different. It is difficult because sometimes it is just a few days that make a difference. Basically if you are in a country for more than 180 or 190 days you should pay taxes there. but prove that about a jet-setting international model.
I agree with you re not wanting your taxes to go to funding the military, but I feel it might be crediting Bar with a little too much intelligence and empathy to suggest she committed tax evasion in order to stand up for her political beliefs.
plenty of young expats have gotten out of compulsory military service by living in another country. the ones I have known loved their country. they were just rich and privileged and did not want to serve.
“it has to really bite a big one to pay taxes into a system that you are morally at odds with”. Really? I dont think she can be morally at odds with anything, since she married a daddy sugar only to skip the military service (she was 18 at the time).
Later on, she said: “I don’t regret not enlisting, because it paid off big time. That’s just the way it is: celebrities have other needs”. As you can see, there’s no reference to any “left-wing moral issue”, At all.
Let’s see if dodging taxes “pays off big time”, as well.
I pay into a tax system I’m morally at odds with. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t, actually.
@sochan
Geez your hate for Bar is way OTT. Please chill!
She’s actually my favorite model. I think her talents are seriously underused and photographers don’t do a good job photographing her — seriously, everyone, if you’re ever curious, look at videos of her posing. They’re almost always BETTER than the pictures. She is gorgeous. Way more gorgeous and sensual than the current It girls.
Anyway, on the tax evasion thing. Oh, Bar… Get yourself together! I think she does love her country. She was the lead model, opening and closing the show, at an Israeli fashion show last winter. And she held up a sign on the runway telling people to go Vote! I think it was in response to Netanyahu. She clearly is on the side of her country becoming more peaceful and also more prosperous. So yeah, another reason why I like her.
@Pondering thoughts: It’s very easy for the Israeli authorities to see whether an Israeli was residing abroad. Israelis have to use Israeli passports to enter and leave Israel (that is common practice throughout the world: even if you reside elsewhere, for example, as long as you are American you have to enter and leave the US with a US passport). The authorities – including tax authorities – can demand to see your passport to calculate the number of days you were in Israel and the number of consecutive days you were in Israel.
I don’t remember the exact figures but if you want to remain non-resident, then you can only be in Israel xx number of days per year, and only xxx number of days consecutively. If you exceed that, you’re considered as residing in Israel, a status that has significance in terms of things like taxes, being obligated to pay into social security, health insurance, and various other rights.
Also, to whoever thinks Bar avoided the military because of some ideology, that’s bullcrap. She didn’t want to miss out on the prime moneymaking years of a model so she claimed an exemption. She’s never hidden it.
Israel didn’t take those ethipioan migrants gracefully, with the forced birth control scandal and open questions regarding their right to be there.
@ MrsK
If only it were so easy. There were a number of german celebrities who travelled to countries with passport-at-borders laws but nevertheless it was difficult to figure out how long they stayed in which country. Don’t ask me why. There was one german sports celebrity in particular whose dodgy tax deals were known. But it took a few years to catch him properly.
I want everybody to pay his or her taxes. But unfortunately there is a lot of tax evasion with people who earn six figures and above. They are the ones who can afford very good tax lawyers.
As for avoiding the military to do some modeling: why not? Seriously, do you really have to stall your model career for military service? Surely you could do your military service later? Why not draft models at age 35? Actually I am in favour of such regulations which make certain exemptions for certain cases.
It’s one of the things that really gets me mad.
I agree. Not paying taxes (especially people who are millionaires) is downright insulting. Hey I’m not happy Uncle Sam takes almost a third of my paycheck in taxes either, but Jesus! You make millions and dodge taxes?? Shows a distinct lack of morals if you ask me! She should get jail time if that is the penalty.
Esti Ginzburg must be enjoying this. She criticised BR a lot about military service thing. Meanwhile we don’t really care that Pfizer just sorta did the same thing on a far bigger scale.
@Pondering thoughts
Unquestionably there is plenty of successful tax evasion and I’m pretty sure that the cases of the big time offenders are driven by some very direct, probably very personal interest to bring that person down. In other words, someone snitched.
If you are determined, I guess you can hide your entries and exits. But if you are a common variety of law-abiding person with nothing to hide, and you know the law is that if you are a “sabra,” you must enter and exit with an Israeli passport, then the dates of entry/exit are properly recorded and are accepted by the authorities, for example for a matter like establishing your tax-exemption rights as a “returning resident.”
I have a feeling that between Refaeli and her mother, and maybe even her new husband, there were more than a few people who were keeping a very close eye on them and waiting for the chance to bring her down.
Isn’t she married to a billionaire? Why the dodging?
She dodges A LOT of things. A thoroughly despicable woman.
@Sochan –
Yup
Can never forget her “celebrities have other needs”, as justifiable reason to marry a 40+year old family friend in order to dodge her service.
Yep. She was already infamous in Israel for the military dodge. She dodged in a legal way, but refusing to contribute is a major no-no in Israeli culture. Many Israeli celebrities have, and continue to, publically deride her for it. This just kind of proves that her behavior is more about her, than it is about anything else.
I hope the charges stick. I have nothing but schadenfraude on those few occasions when rich and powerful people get slapped for playing fast-and-loose with the same laws no ‘normal’ person would dare step out of.
@Jegede: I am surprised the dodging the military bit was kept under wraps for sooooo long. I have a great Israeli friend and she told me years ago that no one stands her for that. It was so shady to marry the guy a day (?) before she turned 18…
@Miss M, @Snarky
Exactly.
The stupifying arrogance in the way she phrased it is just………………… Too pretty to serve? Really?
Her constant tax dodges, to military service, she took from Israel while constantly degrading the country in interview in her Dicaprio years.
One example as her saying ‘people named their children Bar now, solely because of her being the most famous person bearing it’. When there were military personnel and academics named Bar prior!
Jegede,
I think you are right, that was one of the obnoxious excuses she made for not serving, eye roll.
It reminds of the excuse Debra Lafave’s lawyer gave as to why she couldn’t go to jail, “she is too pretty to go to jail.”
Agree with it all. This was expected imo.
There’s a level of ignorance here. 1 level that spans very far.
Greed, maybe. Sometimes I think that’s how people get rich in first place.
It seems like the millionaires and billionaires are the most likely to skip taxes. Hence why they are still millionaires.
@ Red32
They are at average more greedy than the average person at average.
It is more likely that a millionaire is greedy than that an average person is greedy. No joke. Scientifically proven. And no, I am not saying there were no honest millionaires. Just less.
they simply have more opportunities to do it. i cant hide an investment fond on some island, i cant rent out my yacht to get a refund, i cant pay the best people to find as many loophole as possible etc.
Thing is if the government (any government) wants to pin you down AND you are tax dodging, no matter how rich or protected you are, they will get you. No one has sympathy for tax dodgers. Someone should have told her LOL.
Rich people are more greedy, too. No joke.
The Bagel experiment (link below)
There was a bagel + cheese seller. In the morning he would bring a basket with bagels and some cheese to a company kitchen and put a tin can savings box next to it. When you wanted a bagel you were supposed to put 1 Dollar into the savings box. In the evening he would collect the remaining bagels and cheese and the savings box. So he could see how many people would properly pay for their bagel: because the sum of the remaining leftover bagels and the number of dollars in box should equal the number of bagels delivered in the morning.
Number of Dollars + number of remaining bagels in the evening
= number of bagels delivered in the morning
Now there was a company who had two floors in an office building. The assistants and the secretaries were in the lower floor. The managers were in the upper floor. In both floors was a kitchen with the bagel and cottage cheese stuff.
Guess which floor had the better payment moral? Exactly: the lower floor where the assistants and secretaries worked. The managers had a very low payment moral although they would be paid better.
Here is the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/06/magazine/what-the-bagel-man-saw.html
Despicable? Yes, yet I don’t know one man that would not f her or marry her and many woman would be her friend just for the affirmation. Society values pretty woman. You may be a nice girl, but if you don’t have the right look, they would prefer a Bar , no serving your country, not paying taxes any day. She still will get a lot of jobs out there.
Because the richer you are, the easier it is to dodge.
Good. No Israeli citizen should try to weasel out of taxes. I have to pay taxes for the state of Israel even tho I’m not a citizen.
THANK YOU. American taxpayers are funding $6 billion a year (that we know about) when they have FREE HEALTHCARE — and we DON’T!
I am SO SICK of Israel-bashing everywhere!
Leen and Aemish, according to Forbes Magazine ( among other sites, just google them), the U.S. disbursed $33.2 billion—$19 billion in economic assistance to 184 countries and $14.2 billion in military assistance to 142 countries. Out of the top six U.S. foreign aid recipients, five of them were Muslim countries. We also seem to borrow money from China in order to give them financial assistance!
Why don’t you condemn all of those countries, and not just Israel? Israel is the only stable country in that area, and the ONLY democracy.
While I think what this model did is dispicable, she is an individual, NOT a country, and she, alone, should be condemned for her actions.
@ imqrious2
Israel should get bashed because they are basically a rich country who doesn’t need any financial support.
Other countries especially muslim countries are often rather poor. And they need support because otherwise people might starve.
As for the money paid for military assistance: a lot of that money is used to either buy weapons from the US so the money is going back to the US. Or the money is used to pay for the provision of military assistance to the US.
The foreign aid budgets in most countries are very often (ab)used for bribing foreign countries. Sad but true.
@Pondering Thoughts People are always sick about the truth coming out about Israel.
I am an Israeli citizen and a percentage of my health care automatically goes out of my salary every month, just like it does for every Israeli citizen. So check yourself. It is not free.
@imqrious2 only democracy? lmfao girl have several seats and learn a bit more about the region. Israel rightly deserves the bashing; it’s an apartheid state.
LOL @HIBITTA sounds like you’re the one who could use a little more learning about the region. Israel is a democracy. It is not an apartheid state because it has no apartheid laws – unlike Lebanon that has 75 apartheid laws, all of which are against Palestinians. Looks like the one who needs to “have several seats” (maybe with a book while you’re at it) is you.
@Jessica No, @Habitta is right, you need to learn more. It’s an apartheid state. It doesn’t matter if there are no apartheid laws. Their actions speak for themselves. Sorry to burst your bubble.
@ Jessica: Hit a nerve there, did I?
Years ago, when asked about her attitude of dodging her country rules and duties she used to say: “you know, celebrities have other needs”.
Here we are….
She dodged military service in order to get a job that you can just get when you are young.
What are Israeli models supposed to do? Start modeling later and then have a huge disadvantage due to older age?
Well, aspiring models in Israel could well do military service later. There should be some kind of exception rules.
You can kill someone, you can rape someone, but the one crime you will absolutely be punished for if you commit it is tax evasion.
Just an observation, it seems to be the one crime even celebs can’t shake.
They can. They never pay back all they owe – in my experience. And they get off the hook too easily – in my experience.
what was your experience with a celebrity getting off paying taxes?
come on, you can’t just say something like that and not dish the dirt.
@Pondering thoughts Wesley Snipes would beg to differ.
Anyone with a tax lawyer can negotiate with the IRS, famous or not. Especially with regards to the penalties.
Google it yourself. These people like to sue you if you name them openly. No joke. And I am not a millionair who could fence off a lawsuit.
I can give you this piece:
When a famous german celebrity was on trial for tax evasion and got judged and jailed subsequently there was a judge or a general prosecutor who had a slip of tongue which went about like:
“What? He got just judged for frauding xx Euros? It should have been much much more!” [sic!]
I don’t exactly know how famous rich well connected tax evaders do it. But they seem to never admit it all but just that what the courts can prove anyway. They seem to pull some strings (politicians) to not have to pay it all or escape jail.
I sometimes suspect that when famous rich tax evaders are “caught” then somebody pulled some strings to deliver them: a business competitor or similar.
Ah, and she bought the apartment right after her split from Leo.
Did she?
I wonder if they had some kind of prenup for their relationship. Non disclosure agreement? Who pays what and so on.
Well, I think that the only one who paid is Leo, to keep her mouth zipped.
Obviously she had a non disclosure agreement and a severance like Clooney’s exes.
Oh, girl. Rich people not paying their taxes? Shocking.
Rich people that have more than enough money to pay their taxes (without getting their tight budget screwed up like it happens to most of us) are the ones trying harder to avoid paying like they won’t be able to eat if they do. Talk about been selfish and greedy.
My mom would kill me too for getting her arrested!
Also didn’t Bar also get married this year?
Well, it sounded like the mother was arrested because she ALSO claimed Bar was living elsewhere – so she lied for her – she took a risk, and it didn’t pan out in her favor. At the very least she’s an enabler, but if she lied in paperwork, or whatever, she’s a criminal too.
Yup. Just wait until the insurance companies here about this. That’s more fraud on homes in other names. Cars. The liability and covereage changes greatly.
She earned a side eye long ago from me.
Whenever I see her all I think of is how she stuck that hair thing up her @ss in the photos that were released during the leak last year.
Yes! She clearly loves that A thing really bad. Although I as wondering if it was really up her A though…. I couldnt really see. But she is a freak!
some guys like freaky girls.
LOL! I can’t shake that image either. Whenever I start curling my hair I feel a little disgusted.
Lol yeah lets all shame for for having private photos hacked and released!
There are enough reasons to dislike her without shaming her for being a victim of a crime. Reasons like tax evasion.
Seriously, ZP! Those photos were not ‘released’, but stolen, and some feel entitled to scarf down some invasion of privacy.
(BTW, do you still look good in velour?)
Lambda of course I still look good in velour!
Whhaaaat?
ETA: Ok, I just googled. ew.
Hahaha Kai
What, what happened?!
Essentially a hair straightener being put into a bodily orifice that some people consider “out only”. 🙂
Which country did she pay taxes to? I assume she paid a certain amount of taxes to someone if she claimed to live abroad.
Can someone please explain how military service works in Israel? I could bet a million Internet dollars that I read an interview about her, several years ago, in which she bragged about serving. Are they required to serve consecutively or did this idiot lie in her interview?
Military service is compulsory for everyone over 18. girls have to serve 2 years and boys 3. If you’re ultra religious, have medical or psychiatric issues or a married woman you’re let off. she married a friend of her parents to get out of serving and divorced him later. it’s a big deal and a lot of celebrities try to get out of serving so that they can pursue their careers because it’s difficult to ask for time off or to leave the country while in service. In short, it’s a complicated issue, a lot of people lie about being religious, get fake married, etc. in order to get out, the religious thing is also a big deal because the country supports them financially from tax payers money while they “study the bible” and have 10 kids… she got a lot of backlash at the time and a lot of people haven’t forgiven her, mainly because all us plebs served regardless of our political views. She has always come across as a wealthy entitled b*tch who’s above the law so one could say that she’s getting her comeuppance.
Thanks for the info. I was trying to find that interview online & then I realized that she was not the one who said it. The voice over on a VHI special claimed that she had served. Technically she didn’t lie but she also didn’t correct it. Anyways, while searching online I saw her reply to the IDF about “not losing sleep” over it. What a b…..
Israeli knesset passed a controversial law last year meant to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military – the culmination of a drive for reforms that has resulted in mass protests by the religious community in Israel. The issue of drafting of the ultra-Orthodox is at the heart of a cultural war between different groups. Under the law, the army would be required to draft an increasing number of ultra-Orthodox Jews each year, with the goal of enlisting 5,200 ultra-Orthodox soldiers by mid-2017. If the ultra-Orthodox community does not meet that quota by then, the law calls for mandatory service for ultra-Orthodox Jews and criminal sanctions for draft-dodgers. If it is criminal offense for them I cant see why Bar Rafaeli IS so different.
@ev
How does that work? Do they postpone their college or work for those 2 years? Do they do them plus the army stuff at the same time? Are they paid?
I know someone who “served” as an aerobic instructor. It’s not like all people become israeli snipers
Women and men must serve. There is a two year minimum. You can serve after high school or you can wait after a few years. After you serve many stay in the reserves up to age of about 40 or make military a career. If not in the reserves ,many serve in civilian patrols, many towns and kibbutzs . have their own patrols. It is a way of life in Isreal and expectation of being a citizen.
I remember Natalie Portman saying she didn’t serve in the Israeli military despite being an Israeli citizen, but I think there was a reason she wasn’t required to serve, but I can’t remember what it was (was it because she was a dual citizen?). She made a joke (I think) about dodging military service, but I think there was some legal stipulation as to why she didn’t have to serve (maybe she hadn’t lived there so she didn’t have to serve? I didn’t really get how the whole thing worked).
O/T but there was a fascinating article in Haaretz a couple of weeks ago about the rise of Haredi girls (ultra religious) joining the IDF.
That does sound fascinating. Was it in English or Hebrew? Any suggestions as to how I could track it down?
Actually, I read an interview she did a long time ago where she admitted she never served in the military. She married someone at a young age to get out of her national duty and eventually divorced when she was no longer allowed to be drafted.
I still think Bar is a beautiful woman on the outside, however inside, she is obviously ugly.
@Guest1– I thought she served too. Maybe I just assumed she did because it is required, but I also thought she served for some reason.
Bar and her mother Tzipi, have a history of arrogant, nasty, and aggressive behaviour.
They though they would get away with it cause they hoped/prayed/pushed Leo would marry her, and as Mrs Dicaprio, Israel would have to kiss her a$$
Didn’t pan out that way.
A spokesperson from Israel came out while she was dating Leo and made a public statement at how she should dump Leo because he’s not Jewish/Israeli and she’s embarrassing her country. I think they’d hate her more if she married him.
@Dani – No way.
The Israeli press gushed over her relationship with Leo, and her mom ALWAYS spread engagement rumours, even as late as last year were still mourning the end of the ‘Israel’s National Treasure’ and ‘Hollywood Superstar’. The IDF General dumped on her for dodging her duties, but was yet selected as the face of Israeli tourism, and Bar clapped back at the General him with a bitchy Instagram post. They are not Orthodox, the relationship put her on the map and neither Bar nor her mother give a toss what Israeli leaders military or religious think of them.
So how much is/are “dozens of millions of scheckles”; What’s the conversion on that?
Jumping compulsory Israeli military service is pretty serious.
It’s about 4 shekels to the dollar. I think Israel’s top tax rate is about 50% but I could be wrong, so someone correct me please!
There was a german high-ranking very very well-connected manager who committed tax fraud of more than 2mio Euros. He was supposed to go to jail as you can’t avoid a jail sentence if you tax fraud exceeds more than a certain sum.
Guess what happened!!!
The judge did fill out certain forms one day too late. In other words: wrong date. And that helped the tax fraudster to avoid jail.
Do you think the judge made an accidental mistake? These law guys are usually exceptionally well organised! Or do you think he made a mistake on purpose?
As for Refaeli: her husband is a billionaire. Certainly that guarantees some influence?
No chances for her, even the most powerful politics fear the israeli justice system.
GOOD! Lock her up!
Her face is so weird. She looks wildly different from photo to photo. I googled image searched her, and it was like looking at dozens of different women, who don’t even look alike.
She sounds awful, though.
That’s why she’s no Gisele. Lack of personality.
Like Al Capone, it was the money issue that got her in the end.
Part of the reason her mom is so heavily involved is because she’s her momager.
She’ll pay a fine and in a couple of months everything will be forgotten, Unfortunately she’s not the first or the last.
She looks a lot like Giselle in that last photo.
“a pretty obvious tax dodge – putting real estate in your family members’ names when the properties really belong to you,”
Wealthy people legitimately by homes for their relatives, though. I am not doubting the overall claims, but this one point doesn’t seem very damning to me.
Evades service and taxes, gets arrested and is still literally the poster girl for the country. I’m in Tel Aviv now on business and there are billboards of her everywhere and the airport is covered in huge images of her eyeglass campaign.
Boy, this is rich! Pun intended. I worked for a clothing company less than a decade ago that hired her to lead their swimwear campaign for 1 million per year. It was really only some print catalog work and she had to do nothing else except for one appearance at a beach event. I remember people getting laid off during that time and some speculated that it was so the company could afford to pay her. SMH.
She seems ….very obsessed with being and remaining rich.
On another note, guess there might have been something shady going on after all when she was constantly hanging out around the Barcelona FC training grounds a few years back.
I remember that. One of the players wives even tweeted shade towards her.
Correct, that was Daniella Semaan, the Lebanese girlfriend of Cesc Fabregas that used to play for Barcelona. There were rumors she was the cause Shakira and Pique had a brief split, she was also rumored to be with David Alves and took a pic with Xavi….Daniella threw major shade on twitter.
I think it was Dani Alves she was fooling around with. Daniella Semaan irks me. I just do not like that woman. She tries way too hard. However Bar has no boundaries and I doubt she was ever taught boundaries as a child either. Being a narcissist, I’m sure she thought FC Barcelona was named after her!
Death and Taxes, baby. Two things you can’t dodge… No matter how bad ya want to!
Imagine if American celebs had to report and pay taxes on all of their freebies and dicsounts?? HA!
I like Israel’s style. Israel does not play. And no special treatment just b/c you’re their most famous model.
Washington DC and California, please take notes.
I think they do have to pay taxes on freebies/gifts over a certain amt. Most is not reported I am sure.
That’s why game show prizes kind of suck. Especially if you don’t really need the refrigerator/bicycle/pooltable, but have to pay taxes on the full retail value.
They have to as well. This is why sometimes celebrities refuse events gifts or more commonly simply donate them to charity.
Why didn’t she change her citizenship if she wasn’t happy being an Israeli? With her being a fairly well known model she could have gotten Canadian or US citizenship.
She actually had many options unlike most average people.
I have no idea how it works in Israel but some countries make it really hard to relinquish citizenship. Mainly the US, which is one of only two countries in the world that taxes citizens on worldwide income. It is extremely difficult to relinquish US citizenship.
Many times the best thing you can do for your country is to refuse military service. It is not patriotic to go along with every damn fool thing the politicians push, especially when murder and mayhem is involved. But I doubt she had anything else but her career in mind. There is a growing conscientious objector movement in Israel, in response to government actions that simply aren’t defensive (I remember the bombing of Beirut was a trigger) or reminded people of how it was in Hitler’s Germany (as a survivor mentioned when observing Israeli soldiers dealing with Palestinians). But as far as I know, Bar hasn’t shown any indication that this was her motivation. She didn’t ask to do alternative service.
Likewise for refusing to pay taxes due to the military adventures it finances. Conscientious objectors to military taxes here in the U.S. are quite open about their refusal, whether they refuse it all or the military portion (which can be as high as 80% when honestly counted) or the portion used for weapons of mass destruction or a token $10.40. Many donate the portion refused to organizations doing something more useful with the money here and elsewhere, so when the IRS eventually takes the money or equivalent goods they are actually paying double. They typically communicate regularly with the IRS explaining what they are doing and why. The IRS is more worried about tax resisters these days who think the Gimmemint is Constitutionally not permitted to collect taxes and/or who are likely to shoot the Revenooers, not peaceful types who just don’t want to pay for murder and mayhem and just want the same right to have their money do alternative service as is allowed for conscientious objectors to military service. Life and death issues are involved, this isn’t a dispute over whether or not to build a road. And large amounts of money are involved – the U.S. military budget is now bigger than the sum total of all the military budgets of all the other countries in the world. Only a few percent of the military budget can honestly be considered as for defensive purposes.
Anyhow, I don’t know the war tax resistance situation in Israel, but they have a similar problem as in the U.S., with a huge military budget that detracts from more socially beneficial uses for their hard earned money and discourages other approaches to dealing with serious conflicts and concerns about security. But again – Bar’s actions don’t seem like war tax resistance to me. People do try to minimize the tax owed, but she seems to have gone further than that.
Why should she have to do military service in the first place? that seems outdated in the first place, why SHOULD people (male or female) have to do it? I dont blame her for evading it, come at me patriots.
Every country surrounding Israel hates it and wants it destroyed, why not have everyone military trained so they can be helpful if a full scale invasion is to ever happen? It’s a policy I like tbh. Plus she should just admit that she didn’t want to do military service because she would be stuck in Israel in the prime of her modelling years unable to travel to work destinations.
I’ve come to believe that compulsory military service/military drafts are just shortcuts when the government doesn’t make a convincing enough case for military training and wars. They can’t rely on volunteers because too many people would refuse the offer if given a choice, simply because not enough people believe it involves real defense of their homes and families. So the government messes up their lives with fines and jail time and endless explaining throughout their lives if they refuse for any reason. Real democracy should at least include the right to refuse to risk your neck on command by the government.
Israel does have a legitimate reason to have a large number of people trained as reserves simply on defense grounds. But if the case is clear, there would be no harm making it voluntary or allowing routinely for alternative and more flexible national service in non-military ways. This would automatically allow for conscientious objectors to military activities and also cases like this, where even a two year commitment could make the difference between having a career and not having one because the demand for models goes down so fast with age. If she agreed to alternative service that could just as easily be done in her thirties or forties, no problem. Likewise if it could be done more easily in installments.
The U.S. Pentagon was scarred by the results of the draft in the Vietnam War – not only did the educational deferment mean they were getting fellows old enough to know they were mortal and that the worldview propelling the war was stupid and that they were “defending” a corrupt local government (my brother the Vietnam war vet saw early that the people themselves didn’t care who was in charge, any government was just “the one who took their pigs for taxes”) , they were also dealing with angry middle class and upper class parents. At least 80% of returning troops were against the war by the time they came home, and their testimonies were powerful in protests against it. At least half the draftees never showed up for induction by the end. Any new draft will not have an educational deferment. Now they depend on “volunteer” chronically unemployed young people, making promises of lots of money (but cutting veterans benefits routinely to shift funds toward war), and misusing state national guards (needed in local emergencies) to get the warm bodies needed for endless pointless non-defensive wars. Response to Katrina was seriously impeded by so much Guard equipment and personnel being in Iraq (as state governors had warned could happen just a few months earlier at a conference), and units have also been used illegally in combat in Central America. Israel should have a much easier time convincing Israelis of the need for nearly universal defense military training, so loosening up shouldn’t be so costly.
The tax authority is simple making headlines on her back, they’re getting free publicity by going down on someone famous like Bar.
All legal experts in Israel agreed that such a case should’ve been resolved in a civil case not criminal, there are no clear guidelines on when you need to pay tax on free gifts.
No one else would ever be treated the way she was, that’s a shame.
Yes, looking at the charges it does seem like simply a difference of opinion concerning proper decisions about what is taxable and what is not. In the U.S., the Internal Revenue Service tells self-employed people like me to take any deduction that seems reasonable and they will only decide after the fact (we can’t get a ruling from them in advance). The worst that will happen is that the IRS denies a deduction and we have to pay interest and penalties on the amount still owed. If fraud or criminal activity is involved, that’s a whole different matter. I actually include a separate statement explaining my business and the kinds of expenses needed to run it, to make it easier if anyone is examining my return concerning the type of deductions and wondering about the numbers and items (I itemize the deductions on the form on a separate sheet in more detailed subcategories also, rather than just giving the totals as required).
So it’s possible that the Israeli Revenooers suspect fraud, which I imagine is a whole different matter to them also. Otherwise, Revenooers usually just want their money.