IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai is upset with the Foreign Ministry’s decision to feature Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli as the presenter of an international pro-Israel informational campaign – because Refaeli did not serve in the IDF.

In a letter to the Foreign Ministry Director, Brig. Gen. Mordechai asked that the campaign be canceled. “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.”

‘The IDF has been operating, in the last few years, in a variety of ways, to strengthen the value of IDF service, and to fight the phenomenon of enlistment evasion, in order to preserve the societal value that sees the IDF as the people’s army,” he added.

“While campaigns intended for the global audience are not within our purview,” Brig. Gen. Mordechai continued, “I wish to turn your attention to the negative message that could be delivered to Israeli society,” by choosing Refaeli as a representative.  

“I am sure that the creative people who work in the Foreign Ministry will be able to create an alternative hasbara campaign that remains within the consensus of Israeli society, and that will serve its image abroad well while also delivering an important message to Israeli society,” he concluded.