Bar Refaeli’s father arrested for assaulting police

The father of Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli, along with a second man, was arrested on Saturday for assaulting two policewomen, Hebrew media reported Monday. The pair were later released by police to three days’ house arrest and were barred from contacting each other for a month.

On Sunday Refaeli and the other suspect asked the Petah Tikvah Magistrate’s court to cancel the house arrest and the restriction on contact. However, the judge rejected most of the claims, ruling that there was a real danger of obstruction of justice and that the conditions laid down by police were reasonable.

The limitation on contact between Refaeli and the second man was reduced to 21 days.

The pair then lodged an appeal at the Lod Magistrate’s Court during a Monday hearing but, “in light of the court’s remarks,” later withdrew the request, the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

The incident occurred when police were called to the Refaeli home in Kfar Saba at around 4 a.m. over complaints of excessive noise from the house. Bar’s father, Rafi, was apparently holding a party at the time, blasting music from loudspeakers in the yard.

When a policewoman entered Refaeli’s yard and told him to turn off the music, he allegedly dragged her forcefully out of the property, shouted at her that she had no right to enter his yard, and locked the gate in her face.

The policewoman then called for backup and a large police force arrived on the scene. But when a superior female officer confronted Refaeli and told him he was suspected of assault and obstruction of duty, Refaeli and a friend attacked the two policewomen, police said.

The two were promptly subdued and arrested.

“The two behaved extremely violently and brutishly toward officers who came to enforce the law,” a police official said.

Attorneys for the pair have claimed they did not assault the officers and were themselves attacked by police.

On Thursday Bar Refaeli, 31, gave birth to her first child, a healthy baby girl named Liv.

Refaeli is considered Israel’s leading female model and was featured on the cover of the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. A former girlfriend of Hollywood film star Leonardo DiCaprio, she was voted No. 1 on Maxim magazine’s Hot 100 list of 2012.

Refaeli is married to Israeli businessman Adi Ezra.

JTA contributed to this report.