Bar Refaeli appears burka-clad in new advertisements

The supermodel is launching a campaign for fashion brand Hoodies: 'Freedom is Basic.'

Bar Refali's burka advertisement, which ran October, 2018 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Bar Refali's burka advertisement, which ran October, 2018
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Thousands of Israelis may have been startled to see a burka-clad woman staring out from a full page ad on the front page of the country’s most circulated daily newspaper on Sunday. And throughout the day, billboards went up around the country featuring the same image, adorned with just the words “Is Iran here?” And on Sunday evening, the commercial hit television screens around the country.

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It’s a little hard to identify her beyond the startling blue eyes, but the woman in the burka is none other than supermodel Bar Refaeli.
 
Of course, Refaeli isn’t announcing her conversion to Islam – nor is she taking a political stand ahead of Tuesday’s municipal elections, as some believed. Rather, the supermodel, who is both the spokeswoman and part-owner of the Hoodies fashion company, is launching a new nationwide ad campaign.
 
The campaign will reportedly be called “Freedom is Basic,” and is slated to include other Israeli luminaries like transgender actress Stav Strashko, hassidic TV presenter Melech Zilbershlag and Ethiopian-Israeli model and reality star Tahounia Rubel.
 
And while the campaign is purportedly designed to call out racism and bigotry and support freedom, it’s also clearly designed to sell sweatshirts.