Can I file a freedom of information request with an Israeli government office if I am not an Israeli citizen or resident?

An heir in Buenos Aires needs the planning file on a Haifa plot her grandmother owned. A son in Chicago wants to know what the Ministry of Interior holds on a naturalisation refused in 1974. Both have been told by an Israeli office that the file exists but cannot be sent. Both assume this is bureaucracy. In fact there is a statute that decides it, and the answer turns on a distinction most non-residents have never heard of.

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Detailed Answer

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Law 5758-1998 gives the right to receive information from a public authority to every Israeli citizen or resident. A foreign national living abroad is not covered by that sentence, which is why a general request from overseas can be refused on standing alone before anyone considers the content. Section 12 is the door that stays open: the provisions of the law apply also to a requester who is not an Israeli citizen or resident, with respect to information concerning their rights in Israel. That formulation is narrower than it sounds and broader than most officials apply it. A person asking for the file on land they own or have inherited, for their own immigration or population registry record, or for the material behind a decision that affected them, is asking about their rights in Israel. A person asking what the authority holds about a policy, a neighbourhood or a third party is not, and should expect the request to be declined on that basis. The practical consequence is that a non-resident request must lead with the connection: identity documents, the succession order, the Land Registry extract, whatever shows why this information is about your rights rather than about Israel in general.

The procedure itself is designed for people who are in the country, and works from abroad with some patience. Every public authority must appoint an information officer (ממונה, memuneh) under Section 3, and the Government Freedom of Information Unit at the Ministry of Justice publishes the list, so requests can be emailed rather than posted. Section 7 sets the timetable: an answer without delay and no later than 30 days from receipt, extendable by a further 30 days by the head of the authority, and in defined cases by up to 60 days more, with the material itself to be provided within 15 days of a decision to release it. Section 9 lists what may not and need not be disclosed, and for family research the usual obstacle is third-party privacy: where the file touches somebody else, the authority must give that person an opportunity to object before anything is released, which adds weeks. If the answer is a refusal, or no answer comes at all, Section 17 provides for a petition to the Administrative Affairs Court, and refusals that ignore a Section 12 request altogether tend not to survive it. Where the information you actually need is a certificate rather than a file, the ordinary vital records channels are faster and cheaper than a freedom of information request, and we set them out in our guide to correcting and obtaining Israeli population registry records from abroad.

In Practice: Section 7 of the Freedom of Information Law 5758-1998 gives the authority 30 days, extendable to a maximum of about 120 days in the defined cases, and 15 days to hand over the material once release is approved. As updated in October 2025 the fees are NIS 24 to submit the request, NIS 36 per work hour from the fourth hour of handling, and NIS 0.24 per photocopied page, with the applicant signing an undertaking capped at NIS 178 unless a higher figure is agreed. The list of information officers is published by the Government Freedom of Information Unit at the Ministry of Justice.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• The authority has refused on the ground that you are not a citizen or resident without addressing Section 12. That is the refusal most often reversed, and it needs to be challenged in writing before the petition window closes.
• The file concerns a deceased relative rather than you. Whose rights are in issue becomes the whole case, and the answer usually depends on producing an Israeli succession order first.
• The information matters to live proceedings, such as an expropriation claim, a planning objection or a tax assessment. Those have their own deadlines that will not wait for a four-month freedom of information timetable, and there is often a faster statutory route to the same documents.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We frame the request so it falls squarely within Section 12, file it with the right officer in Hebrew with the evidence of your connection attached, and take a refusal to the Administrative Affairs Court where the file genuinely matters.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.