Hiding Out in the Holy Land

March 13, 2007 at 12:29 pm | In Pop Culture |

He may have gone to the Oscars with his mom, but on Sunday Oscar-nominated Leonardo DiCaprio landed in Israel with his supermodel girlfriend Bar Refaeli, on a flight from Frankfurt, believing that this way they could avoid media attention.

Little did the famous couple know, aboard their flight was a group of Israeli journalists returning home after seeing “Mamma Mia” (which, incidentally will be staged in Israel soon as well).

From the minute the famous couple set foot in Israel, a paparazzi race began. According to the Jerusalem Post, Guy Pines, host of the country’s most popular entertainment TV show, went as far as to rent a helicopter to survey the scene from the air — standard paparazzi procedure abroad, but a first for Israel.

So far the results have been disappointing: a few shots of Leo, covered almost completely in a baseball hat. Reports mention that Refaeli wanted to show Leo around her country, meet her people and learn about her heritage.
Their first stop was at the Yad Vashem museum where the couple and Bar’s family were given a private tour after closing hours.

This was followed by a visit to the Kotel and the underground tunnels. According to the article, the tension rose between Leo’s bodyguards and photographers who were waiting at the tunnels’ entrance for the perfect photo.

DiCaprio also had a taste of the unique night life in Tel Aviv at a club where Bar’s brother was celebrating his 31st birthday.

That’s what we know so far about Leo’s visit to Israel which made it to “Page Six” of the New York Post.

Read more about Leo and his Israeli Supermodel girlfriend here.