Bar Refaeli is finding that her beauty is no shield from controversy.
The Israeli-born model is catching flack for a tweet praying for peace and safety for both sides involved in the Gaza and Israeli conflict. Written last Saturday, the tweet garnered 775 retweets. And it’s still causing strife among her 400,000 followers.
“i prey [sic] for the safety of the citizens on both sides and for the day we will live in peace and harmony Amen,” Refaeli tweeted.
Some of her followers agreed with her sentiment, but many others took offense. They saw it as anti-Israeli.
“Hope you think…because on the other side [they’re] praying for your death,” tweeted Gil Mishali, an Israeli gossip columnist.
Yoav Eliasi, who some dub as “Israel’s Eminem,” also lambasted the Sports Illustrated cover girl, telling her on his Facebook page to “stop trying to appear sensitive and humane; you just come out looking like a phony and a hypocrite.”
Fans also created Facebook group calling for a boycott of her upcoming theater show in Israel, Cinderella. The page’s creator Amir Ziv said Refaeli should be ashamed for expressing peace when some of her fellow Israeli citizens are sleeping bomb shelters.
“As a person whose voice is heard in several places around the world, it would have been appropriate for you to support the southern residents and your people, who are in a state of war, and stop at least at this time operating your PR machine,” Ziv wrote, adding that he’s no longer going to her show.
Established earlier this week, the group has only managed to attract about 40 fans
Refaeli is trying to control the damage on Twitter, writing that she simply favors “peace and harmony” for everyone.
Photo via @BarRefaeli/Twitter
