Bar Rafaeli's family sues renter for NIS 300,000 in defamation case

According to the court documents, Gov is a serial offender with regard to evading rent payments and has been repeatedly evicted from numerous apartments in the past.

Bar Refaeli and her mother, Tzipi, arrive at a Tel Aviv court for their hearing into the family's tax evasion case, July 20, 2020 (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)
Bar Refaeli and her mother, Tzipi, arrive at a Tel Aviv court for their hearing into the family's tax evasion case, July 20, 2020
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)
The family of Bar Refaeli filed a defamation lawsuit to the amount of NIS 300,000 against renter Avidan Gov after he began a "smear campaign" against the Israeli supermodel and her family, following his failure to pay rent.
The lawsuit, filed in the Tel Aviv Magistrates' Court, details the Refaeli family's claims that Gov rented the family's apartment, and that Gov did not pay the full rent he owed - delaying payments with excuses and evading the family upon requests for payment.
According to the court documents, Gov is a serial offender with regard to evading rent payments and has been repeatedly evicted from numerous apartments in the past.
The plaintiffs - Rafi, Dor, On Refaeli and Neil Ben-Porat - claim in the lawsuit that, after failing to pay rent, Gov began a smear campaign and invasion of privacy that included, among other things, publishing defamatory flyers in the Blue Towers in Tel Aviv, as well as around the Mikado mall in the Tel-Baruch neighborhood in north Tel Aviv - where Refaeli lives.
The contents of said flyers were not made clear.
Additionally, Gov sent disturbing messages to Refaeli, and publicly disseminated defamatory information with Israeli television presenter Haim Etgar - employed by Channel 12 - among other things.
The Refaeli family is demanding NIS 300,000 for the defamation - NIS 75,000 for each of the plaintiffs - and is demanding that Gov publicly apologize for the defamatory publications and retract his statements.