Israeli Law Q&A for France Residents

Apply to the Israeli court to stay the proceedings, and do it before you argue anything on the merits. Section 5 of the Arbitration Law 5728-1968 tells the court to stay a claim covered by an arbitration agreement if you were and remain ready to arbitrate, unless there is a special reason not to, and Section 6 applies that approach to agreements under the New York Convention. The application must come no later than your first statement on the substance, and the defence is due 60 days after service under Regulation 9(b) of the Civil Procedure Regulations 5779-2018.

Usually yes, but only up to half its value. A loan secured on a residence for a purpose other than buying property is an all-purpose loan, and Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive 329 caps it at 50% of the value of the dwelling. The same 50% ceiling applies to a foreign resident buying, so a non-resident owner has no headroom either way. A permanent relief lets a bank exceed a 70% loan-to-value ratio where the slice above 50% is no more than NIS 200,000, which in practice rarely reaches a non-resident file.

Not as the importer. Section 51(a) of the Protection of Public Health (Food) Law 5776-2015 says no person may import food without a valid registered importer certificate, and that certificate attests to registration in the Importers Registry kept under Section 102(b). It is an Israeli regulatory status, so a French producer either sells to an Israeli distributor who already holds one or forms an Israeli entity to be registered itself. Food lawfully sold in the EU has a shorter route under Section 79E.

A leasehold with a finite term, not ownership. In neighbourhoods such as Rehavia, Talbieh, Baka, Katamon and Nayot the underlying land was leased by KKL-JNF from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in the 1950s under 99 year leases expiring around 2051 and 2052, and the Patriarchate has since sold the reversion to private investors. Roughly 1,500 apartments are affected. A Knesset bill to protect the owners has broad support but is not law.

Preference under the EU-Israel Association Agreement comes from Protocol 4 on rules of origin, not from the commercial invoice. Your supplier must give you either a EUR.1 movement certificate stamped by Israeli Customs or, for a consignment worth no more than EUR 6,000, an invoice declaration signed by any exporter. Israeli documents must also name the town or industrial zone where the goods obtained origin, and French customs will refuse the preference without it.

They can try, and the section to read is Section 219 of the Insolvency and Economic Rehabilitation Law 5778-2018. It lets the court cancel a payment made in the three months before the application to open proceedings, or one year where the recipient is a close party, if the debtor was insolvent and the creditor received more than it would have received in the insolvency. Insolvency during that period is presumed, so the burden of showing otherwise is effectively yours.

Some of it, and the route is narrower than owners expect. Section 6 of the Local Authorities (Interest and Linkage on Compulsory Payments) Law 5740-1980 requires a local authority to refund a compulsory payment made in excess, and where it is not returned within 30 days of payment it must be returned with linkage. The obstacle is not the refund provision but the objection regime: an assessment that was never challenged within the 90 days allowed by the 1976 Appeal Law is treated as final, so most recoveries turn on proving a measurement error rather than a difference of opinion about classification.

Yes, and there is a deadline almost nobody hears about in time. Section 9(a)(6) of the Engineers and Architects Law 5718-1958 lets someone who has worked as an engineer or architect abroad register on the strength of that work, but only if the application reaches the Registrar of Engineers and Architects within one year from the date the applicant first became a resident of Israel. Miss it and you fall back on the diploma and professional-body routes in Section 9(a)(2) and 9(a)(3), which are slower and less forgiving.

By applying to an Israeli Magistrates Court under Section 34 of the Criminal Procedure (Arrest and Search) Ordinance [New Version] 5729-1969, which lets the court order a seized item delivered to a person claiming a right in it. Section 35 also requires the police to return the item if no prosecution needing it as evidence has been brought within six months of seizure. An Israeli lawyer files both for you under a power of attorney signed in France.

Move quickly, because the first hearing is the one that decides everything. Under Section 29 of the Criminal Procedure (Enforcement Powers - Arrests) Law 5756-1996 a person arrested without a warrant must be brought before a judge within 24 hours. Section 17(b) lets the court extend detention in blocks of up to 15 days, to a maximum of 30 days before an indictment without the Attorney General's involvement. Release under Section 48 usually comes with surrender of the passport and a ban on leaving Israel, which is the real problem for a visitor.

Yes. Section 28B of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law 5722-1962, added by Amendment No. 17 in 2012, allows a grandparent to apply to the court for a decision on contact with a minor grandchild, and Section 28A covers the narrower case where the grandchild's parent has died. Section 28B(b) requires the application to be filed as a request for dispute resolution and routed to the Family Court's assistance unit, where up to four meetings are held within 45 days at no charge. The test throughout is the best interests of the child, not the grandparent's entitlement.

No. Israel has no franchise statute and no pre-contractual disclosure document. A French franchisor accustomed to delivering a document d'information precontractuel twenty days before signature under Article L330-3 of the Code de commerce will find nothing equivalent in Israeli law. The only place Israeli legislation defines a franchise agreement at all is the block exemption made under the Economic Competition Law 1988, which expires on 15 September 2026 unless extended.