A taxing issue for Bar Refaeli
Filed under: Blogging, Business, General, Life, Pop Culture
It’s not a good month without a posting on Israel’s supermodel Bar Refaeli. Despite her being – with the possible exception on tremendous NBA rookie Omri Casspi - the most successful and effective PR tool that Israel could possibly hope for, there are some who have it in for her.
Maybe it’s because she managed to break out of the tiny confines of Israel and becoming a worldwide phenomenon, thanks to her Sports Illustrated spreads and advertising campaigns. Or maybe it’s because of some out-of-context quotes about her feelings about Israel that were blown out of proportion by Israel’s yellow media (which unfortunately is also the country’s biggest and most popular daily paper – Yediot Aharonot). Or maybe people are just jealous of her success.
The latest barb against Bar was in today’s Ha’aretz, which reported that Refaeli has asked the Israel Tax Authority to grant her nonresident status for tax purposes.
Refaeli has paid tax here over the years as required, but is now looking at ways to save hundreds of thousands of shekels annually by changing her status.
It seems the authority will find a solution in an effort to keep her paying at least some Israeli taxes. The question of residency status for tax purposes revolves around issues such as how many days a year a person spends in Israel, where he works and if he owns a home here. In any case, Refaeli does most of her work in countries that have tax treaties with Israel, so she will most likely pay part of her taxes here and part abroad.
Now, I don’t know of anyone living here and paying taxes who hasn’t bitched and moaned at one time or another over the tax burdern we working stiffs shoulder. If any of us had a loophole to save some of that precious income, wouldn’t we jump at the chance? And don’t tell me those self-employed among us aren’t writing off every possible item they can to lower their tax burden.
If Refaeli is abroad most of the time, and getting paid for assignments in other countries, why shouldn’t she take advantage of an opportunity to save some money. Maybe she doesn’t want to go on – like the rest of us – funding haredi families whose whose main potential breadwinner studies all day and relies on the welfare our taxes make possible.
Ah, but I digress. This is about Bar Refaeli, and she’s demonstrated time and time again that she’s an Israeli patriot, representing Israel at tourism fairs, always speaking highly of the country in public, and presenting a beatiful face of Israel to the world. If it was smart, our top officials would waive all her income tax and put her on the government payroll.
Krav Maga, for everyone
Filed under: Business, Israeliness, Pop Culture, Sports
You’ve heard of it, maybe you’ve even tried it, especially if you’re a gnarly Hollywood type who’s gotta get into shape for your next flick. It, is Krav Maga, the Israeli-created self-defense training program honed in the IDF for battling the bad guys.
And yes, it’s been used by J. Lo for workouts, in action flicks such as The Bourne Ultimatum, and in video games GTA and Splinter Cell. “How I Met Your Mother” actor Joe Manganiello claims it helped get him a part in the recently cast “True Blood,” and Bionic Woman’s Michelle Ryan also used it to get in shape. And of course our very own Bar Refaeli uses it to keep her curves svelte.
But now anyone can try it online, and for much less than the cost of a single lesson with a personal trainer. Lee Rivnay and Amir Student, two Israelis who were looking for a good idea, launched KravMagaBootCamp.Com two years ago. They keep their site fresh with constant updates to the materials and methods of Krav Maga and offer instant access to Ran Nakash, who headed up the Krav Maga training division of the IDF.
What’s impressive about Rivnay and Student is not their Krav Maga skills; I’m not sure they have any. What they do have is ideas, as they’ve been clearly looking around for start-up possibilities, having first launched Girls Teach Guys, a website community that “facilitates communication and knowledge transfer between men and women. Trust me, it’s a lot raunchier than Krav Maga. But hey, it’s all about Israeli ingenuity. And Krav Maga is certainly one of those Israeli inventions that has found a global market.
Israelity’s top 10 stories of 2009
What a year. We started with the war in Gaza, and ended with a rash of terror attacks in the West Bank. And in between there was the water shortage, the Goldstone report, posturing and threats between Israel and Iran, and endless and bitter bargaining over the release of Gilad Shalit.
It was also, however, a year in which the Israeli economy weathered the global financial storm in extremely good shape, when new Israeli innovations in health and technology made good on the world markets, when Israeli charities gave life-saving aid to developing nations, and when Israel’s financial and technological success was finally recognized worldwide.
So what did our viewers enjoy reading the most in 2009? Well, the choice was as diverse as the year, ranging from the serious – the humanitarian aid webcam at the crossing into Gaza during the war, to the sublime – a YouTube mash created by an Israeli musician, and of course the ridiculous – the Bollywood style advert created by missile maker Rafael for the Indian market.
And, let’s face it, you all love to read about sex, scandals and supermodels as well.
Check out Israelity’s top 10 stories of 2009 below.
1. Foto Friday – Sexy Tel Aviv
In July, Rachel wrote a piece about gay clubbing in Tel Aviv during the hot summer months. The city has a lively gay scene and it abounds with great dance clubs and bars. Combine that with the great weather, and you’ve got a wild night out. Check out David Shankbone’s pictures in this post to see for yourself.
2. Israeli model Esti Ginzberg shot in New York
Fed up with all the hype about Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli (yes, yes, the one who dated Leonardo DiCaprio), in March Harry decided it was time to write about a different supermodel – an upcoming one.
Esti Ginzberg, is a Tel Aviv teenager who featured in 2009’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, and carried out modeling campaigns for international chains like Tommy Hilfiger and Pull and Bear. She’s been featured on the cover of the French version of Elle Magazine, and this year also became a Victoria’s Secret model.
Not long ago, Ginzberg joined the IDF for two years of army service. Check out our video interview with Ginzberg in uniform on YouTube.
3. Human body parts invade Haifa
It’s created controversy wherever it went on show. Israel proved to be no different. As David pointed out in March, the exhibition, Body Worlds, by German anatomist Gunther von Hagens, raised hackles with Israel’s religious community the moment it went on show in Haifa.
The exhibition, of human anatomical specimens which use plastic to replace the fat and water in human body parts, has been seen by over 26 million people around the world. In Israel, the Haredi population protested the opening, and rumors abounded that Michael Jackson had asked von Hagens if he too could be plastinated when he died – an event that most likely came much sooner than he expected.
4. Humanitarian aid webcam Gaza
In January, right in the midst of the Gaza conflict, the IDF decided to start operating a live feed of the Keren Shalom border crossing – the largest checkpoint between Israel and Gaza – showing humanitarian aid being transferred to the Palestinians.
Karin, who interviewed Peter Lerner, an IDF spokesperson working at the border crossing, wrote a blog post on the news with a link to the webcam, which operated for three hours every day, during the daily ceasefire.
5. Bar Refaeli proof that Israel is a land of wonder
She’s inescapable. Bar Refaeli made the headlines again and again and again this year. Either for upsetting the Haredi with her revealing ad campaigns , for appearing on the side of an airliner, or – in May –, for being voted the third “hottest” woman in the world by men’s mag Maxim.
Under her picture, the editors wrote: “If there’s any evidence that the Middle East is a land of beauty and wonder – not just unending turbulence – Bar is it.” Amazing what a pretty face can do. Not sure Refaeli is the right ambassador, however.
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Picture of the Week: The shots that won’t make it to the catalog
Filed under: Picture of the Week, Pop Culture, health
Okay, I know it’s supposed to be just one picture in the Picture of the Week, but if you can’t break the rules in a blog, where can you break them? And this seems like an ideal pairing – the photos that WON’T make it into the advertising campaign.
First off we’ve got some poor soul from Holon getting a swine flu shot. A man shrieking in pain as a nurse gives him the flu jab is clearly not the message that the government wants to give. One look at this picture, and my kids wouldn’t have an inoculation again in their lives.
The Israeli health authorities have started vaccinating the population against swine flu. The Health Ministry purchased 7.3 million doses of the swine flu vaccine – enough for every Israeli –but is increasingly perturbed by the reluctance of Israelis to actually take the darn thing.
Only 30 percent of health care officials and personnel took the shot, and the general public seems to be following suit – so far just 160,000 have rolled up their sleeves. No doubt news that three people – all dialysis patients mind you – died shortly after receiving the vaccination, has made the injection a little less appealing.
If this keeps up, millions of expensive doses of swine flu vaccine will simply just go to waste. In response the Health Ministry is now thinking about offering the inoculation in shopping malls and workplaces.
Next up, we’ve got Bar Refaeli posing for Fox’s new summer catalog with Noam Tor. Refaeli and Tor are the current ‘faces’ of Fox, a popular Israeli clothing chain for men, women, kids and babes that offers relatively cheap, fashionable items.
This year’s shoot, for next year’s fashions, was at Mevo Horon, and supposedly in the spirit of Woodstock. Wasn’t the Woodstock revival last year?
While you’d be hard put to find a bad picture of Refaeli, you can be pretty sure that this shot won’t be making it into next year’s catalog. And sorry Fox, but what is that thing she’s wearing?
Pic of the man suffering Trypanophobia (that’s fear of medical procedures involving needles) by Yossi Zeliger/Flash90. Pic of Refaeli and Tor by Yossi Zamir/Flash90.
Picture of the week: Bar Refaeli – in trouble again with Israel’s ultra-orthodox
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Life, Picture of the Week, Pop Culture, Religion
Earlier this month, it was Bar Refaeli’s
They just don’t like to see her naked, or even semi-naked, or even, come to that matter, any hint that she might be naked under her clothes.
When Fox put up their billboard on the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv showing Refaeli lying provocatively under a blanket next to Israeli Survivor winner Noam Tor, with jeans on I might add, and not actually showing the slightest bit of breast, they immediately threatened a boycott if Fox didn’t take the advert down.
So what did clothing chain Fox do? They caved of course. They thought about the outlets they have selling clothes to the orthodox and panicked. The risqué, and rather sweet, ad was immediately replaced by a modest one of Refaeli and Tor fully dressed in winter clothes . Boring.
Now the ultra-orthodox are up in arms yet again because Bonita De Mas has put up a billboard of Refaeli wearing nothing but a bra and knickers.
Now I can think of many reasons why we should be campaigning against this kind of ad – mainly because of the objectification of women, the damage this kind of picture does to women’s self image etc. etc., but somehow when the ultra-orthodox population complains that this is poisoning the public environment, I get a little narked.
These are the same people who force women to sit at the back of their buses, the same people who conduct aggressive modesty patrols, attacking women who they deem to be wearing the wrong length of hemline or cuff. These are the same people, in fact, who are trying to make women completely invisible.
And let’s not get into the protests against Intel, the riots in the streets, the firebombing of shops that sell ‘provocative’ women’s clothes, or even the stoning of motorists who drive in the wrong areas of Jerusalem on a Saturday. Enough already.
Hell, I hate to see naked women adorning posters, but I hope Bonita De Mas sticks by its guns and keeps those posters up for all to see.
Photo by Gili Yaari/Flash 90.
Israelis love gadgets on Google
Filed under: A New Reality, Blogging, Business, General, Israeliness, Pop Culture, Technology
Ever wonder what Israelis look for on Google? If you thought it was photos of Bar Refaeli, than you’re only partially right.
According to Google Israel Ltd., Israelis are actually nerds – mostly interested in gadgets. The business site Globes reported Google’s assessment of Israeli behavior on the search engine, which found that we’re particularly interested in the…. global cellular market???
The anticipated arrival of the new iPhone in Israel and the expansion of cellular companies into the music content field with Pelephone’s Musix, Cellcom Israel Ltd. Cellcom Media and Partner Communications Co. Ltd. Orange Time have resulted in a high rate of search for these services, Google Israel media and telecom sector head Nir Korchak told the site.
“Without doubt, the biggest new buzz over the last six months was the much talked-about iPhone. The late launch did not curb the appetite of Israelis for the coveted handset and may even have strengthened it. Searches for it were astronomical and broke all records for handset searches.”
Korchak added, “We can draw conclusions from this about Israeli consumers. He loves gadgets and is quick to take up new technologies, and this trend is expressed in the largest number of searches even before the launch. In other words, the enthusiastic Israeli public sees itself as part of the global village, and does not wait for the local launch to get information about something which is already being sold abroad.”
He said, “The Israeli public uses the search engine at every stage in the purchasing process: from initial interest through searches like ‘critique of Nokia N97 through market surveys, ‘iPhone price comparisons’ and onto the order stage ‘buy mobile phone.’”
According to the study, Israelis also use the search terms ‘loans’ and ‘financing’ alot, but not in ways that characterize an economic crisis – 55% of Israelis looked for a loan to finance a vacation, 25% to renovate their home and only 20% in order to repay debts.
And demonstrating that Israelis aren’t just business minded, there have been two peaks in the last six months for searches for swine flu in both English and Hebrew – the first was after the initial outbreak in Mexico and the second was after the outbreak of the virus in Israel.
Of course, what the survey didn’t indicate was that according my own informal polling, after searching for all of the above topics, 93% of Israeli males also typed in ‘Bar Refaeli photos.’
Yoram, more wine please…
Filed under: A New Reality, Food, General, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, Religion
Karen Berg, and her husband Rabbi Philip Berg
On the day after the superstar’s second sold out show in Tel Aviv last week, I was offered a chance to interview Karen Berg, the Los Angeles-based co-founder of the Kabbalah Center, and the person most identified hooking Madonna up with the ancient Jewish mysticsm.
At first, the meeting was supposed to take place at the Kabbalah Center in downtown Tel Aviv, but the night before, one of Berg’s assistants called and asked if I would be willing to drive a little farther north to a private villa in a small, exclusive community north of Netanya, where Berg would be spending the afternoon. Sure, I answered, with visions of entering the home and finding Madonna reclining on a chaise lounge poolside, chatting with Justin Timberlake.
Well, it wasn’t quite that heady. But the house was magnificent, there was a beautiful pool, and there were people lounging around outside. It turns out the home belonged to a young couple who were students at the Tel Aviv center, and had invited a few people to lunch, with Berg as the guest of honor.
As I was sitting in the gigantic living room interviewing Berg, a hired chef in a white apron and chef’s hat was stoking the grill and flipping thick steaks and skewered chicken (all kosher of course). Guests began arriving including Madonna’s longtime Kabbalah teacher Eitan Yardeni, Berg’s son Michael, and a young couple who greeted Berg – and then she whispered to me ‘That’s Gwyneth Paltrow’s sister.’
As I was getting ready to leave and the guests were sitting down for lunch, the husband host came up to me and said, ‘won’t you join us?’
It would have been rude to refuse, so for an hour, I ate, drank, and talked about Israeli politics, the differences between raising children in Israel and the US, Madonna’s after-party the night before (attended by Natalie Portman, Sasha Baron Cohen and Bar Refaeli), and, it turned out, very little Kabbalah. One of the Kabbalah Center people whispered in my ear that the rule was that everything said was off the record, and I nodded affirmatively, because I was too busy eating to think about taking notes or remembering anything for later,
I could have stayed for hours, but I remembered I had a job, profusely thanked my hosts, and started the long drive back to Jerusalem. Thanks Madonna, I owe you one.
How does your garden grow? In Israel, not so well
The entrance to Ma'aleh Adumim (Photo: Jacob Richman)
If you’ve got a back yard or a garden, plan on decorating it brown this spring. Due to the drought-like winter and the Kinneret being a zillion centimeters below its red line, some drastic measures are likely to be put into effect to save water this year, including a ban on watering both public and private gardens.
And one sad byproduct of that is the likelihood that up to 30,000 Israelis who work in the gardening profession will either lose their livelihoods or have their income drastically cut back.
According to Green Gardens magazine (Ganim Yerukim), in addition to gardeners losing their jobs, there’s likely to be a domino effect on many businesses serving the gardening sector, such as gardening contractors, designers and manufacturers who are left without work.
The Mashov Group which publishes the magazine compiled data that showed that 2,000 workers in the gardening industry have already lost their jobs in recent months. That’s because there’s already been a ban issued by the Water Authority on watering public and private parks, gardens and lawns, effective until the end of April. However, since the winter’s been so dry, it’s likely the ban will continue into the summer.
And even without the water shortage, the Israeli Landscape and Gardening Association reports that the decline in new construction projects due to the the global economic crisis has led to a 60 percent drop in orders for new plantings of lawns and gardens in the private and public sector in the first half of 2009.
The good news, though, is that the Water Authority has hired supermodel Bar Refaeli to star in a campaign to urge Israelis to save water. Unfortunately, after watching the racy ads she’s done for Mei Eden spring water, the male viewers may be in need of cold showers.
Israeli model Esti Ginzburg shot in New York
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Pop Culture
Bar Refaeli seems to be getting some positive attention headed Israel’s way, thanks to her recent appearance on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and other correlating accomplishments, as I enumerated earlier this month:
Bar is going to save Israel from a water crisis. Bar ate at these three Tel Aviv restaurants (I’ve eaten at all three as well). Bar wins a Women’s World Style Award. Bar appears on Ellen Degeneres. Bar’s body appears on the fuselage of a 737 jet. Bar eats a hamburger (this is news apparently). Bar shuts down the New York Stock Exchange. And my personal favorite, Leo (that kid from Growing Pains) must convert to Judaism in order to marry Bar.
I’m not the only one getting sick of her hotness. The Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO) is apparently wondering about Refaeli’s contributions to the greater good of womankind.
Basically, the gist is, can’t there be another Israeli hottie about whom we can get excited? And the answer is decidedly yes. Meet Esti Ginzburg, a Tel Aviv teen who also featured prominently in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, for which she was photographed in Naples.
She’s come a long way since her first modeling gig, for the Tnuva dairy farms, at age eight. Two years ago, she replaced Yael Bar Zohar as the face of Fox clothing, and she hasn’t looked back since. Ginzburg went on to become an international talent, representing brands like FCUK, Pull & Bear, Castro, Tommy Hilfiger. She also recently featured in promotional materials associated with the H&M clothing store’s Winter 08-09 line (pictured). She’s also been on the cover of the French version of Elle magazine four times.
Ginzburg was recently announced as joining the stable of Victoria’s Secret models on the Israeli website for the E! entertainment industry news channel (story in Hebrew). Apparently a shoot is already underway in New York, where Ginzburg is celebrating her 19th birthday. Mazal tov.
Should we lower the Bar (Rafaeli) already?
Yes, of course I think Bar Rafaeli is totally hot and think that it’s quite awesome that she made the cover of Sport’s Illustrated but I’ve been feeling that I can’t turn a corner in the interweb without coming across another a mention of apparently Israel’s greatest invention since drip irrigation and it’s getting quite old. Bar is going to save Israel from a water crisis. Bar ate at these three Tel Aviv restaurants (I’ve eaten at all three as well). Bar wins a Women’s World Style Award. Bar appears on Ellen Degeneres. Bar’s body appears on the fuselage of a 737 jet. Bar eats a hamburger (this is news apparently). Bar shuts down the New York Stock Exchange. And my personal favorite, Leo (that kid from Growing Pains) must convert to Judaism in order to marry Bar.
There is one bright moment and that is David Letterman’s interview with her. The man loves interviewing hot models. Good times.
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