Bar Refaeli hits back at Israel campaign criticism

Bar Refaeli has hit out at officials in her native Israel after the supermodel was criticised for starring in a new tourism campaign without completing her mandatory military service.

Refaeli, 27, reportedly avoided being drafted into the Israeli armed forces as her modelling career was beginning to take off by exploiting a loophole in the law which meant married women would be exempt from the two-year stint, which is compulsory for men and women over the age of 18.

She allegedly wed a family friend and then filed for divorce once she had been given exemption from the military.

Her past came back to haunt her after she recently filmed a tourism advert for Israel's Foreign Ministry, with members of the Israel Defense Forces accusing her of being a bad role model.

A spokesperson for the organisation said, "The choice of a representative who did not serve in the military as an official presenter on behalf of Israel, conveys the message that we ignore and forgive evasion of enlistment, and encourages identification, among youths of both sexes, with the success of those who did not enlist."

However, Refaeli has stood firm in the aftermath of the criticism, writing a defiant post on her Twitter.com page.

The message, which was written in Hebrew, reportedly read, "You can use my clip (advert) for the Foreign Ministry or drop it, but my Instagram page has more readers than Israel's most popular newspaper," according to Omg.yahoo.com.