The decision to make supermodel Bar Refaeli the face of a Foreign Ministry campaign to promote Israeli innovation worldwide has been criticised by the IDF and the Charedi community.

An IDF spokesperson pointed out that Ms Refaeli had failed to enlist in the IDF, and that her presence in a government publicity campaign therefore sends out a “negative message to Israeli society”. Ms Refaeli tweeted in response: “Foreign Office [may] use the video or not but my Instagram has more readers than Israel’s most popular newspaper.”