TOO HOT FOR THE HIGHWAY: Rabbis Want to Bar Refaeli Jeans Ad

Former Leonardo DiCaprio squeeze Bar Refaeli is once again coming under fire for her relationship with Fox Jeans — a sportswear brand in her native Israel.

Just over a year ago, Fox became the target of pro-army types after it signed Refaeli up as their spokeswoman. Turns out Refaeli dodged her mandatory service in the Israeli army and chose instead a glam life modeling around the world. Unsurprisingly, many Israelis who did fight for the cause were not pleased and threatened to boycott Fox for employing draft-dodgers.  Refaeli came to her — and Fox’s rescue — when she teamed with the local group Israeli Forum for the Promotion of Equal Share in the Burden to help encourage young Israelis to go serve in the military.

But that was all so last year.

Now Fox and Refaeli have earned the ire of Tel Aviv-area rabbis over the billboard above. It is prominently displayed on the main Tel Aviv highway and local rabbis have come to the conclusion the topless Refaeli is not appropriate viewing material for Israeli motorists.

Indeed, Rabbi Mordechai Bloi, chairman of the Haredi group Guardians of Sanctity and Education, has made it clear that if the billboard is not taken down — the large and powerful ultra-orthodox community may boycott Fox.

Apparently, Fox’s Refaeli ads — which are rather tame, we contend — were previously reserved for TV and the Internet. But with the new billboard now in place, Bloi says enough is enough.

“Whether people wish to see this or not is a personal choice, and we don’t tell people what to do in the privacy of their home,” says  Rabbi Bloi, who last year famously declared the music of Michael Jackson too risque for the Israeli religious. “But they cannot be permitted to poison the public environment.”

Considering its large religious clientele — Fox may once again have to make nice with Israel’s seemingly never-ending anti-Refaeli forces.