I live in the US and was served with papers from an Israeli court. Do I have to respond?

Yes, and the worst response is to assume that an Israeli court has no reach into New Jersey. Regulation 166 of the Civil Procedure Regulations 5779-2018 sets out the grounds on which a claim form may be served outside Israel, among them a contract made or breached in Israel, property situated in Israel, and a defendant who is a necessary party to proceedings properly brought against someone else. Where a ground applies, the 2018 regulations dispensed with the old requirement to obtain the court's permission first, which means the packet on your kitchen table may well have arrived without any judge examining whether Israel is the right forum. That question is still open, but only if you raise it, and only if you raise it at the first opportunity.

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Detailed Answer

Two things are happening at once and they need different responses. The first is the substantive claim, where a statement of defence is due within 60 days of service under the 2018 regulations, and an extension is something you apply for rather than assume. Let that date pass and the claimant can ask for judgment in your absence, which Israeli courts grant readily once service is proved. The second is jurisdiction. A defendant who believes the case belongs in a US court, or that no Regulation 166 ground exists, must say so at the first opportunity after the claim is filed, because a party who argues the merits first is treated as having accepted the Israeli forum. Forum non conveniens survives as an argument in Israeli practice but it has narrowed considerably, and a defendant with an Israeli apartment, an Israeli bank account or an Israeli contract usually finds the connection is enough. Service itself is worth examining before anything else. Israel and the United States are both parties to the Hague Service Convention 1965, and proper service on a US resident normally runs through the American central authority rather than by ordinary post, so the manner of delivery can be a real defence rather than a technicality.

The consequences travel. A default judgment from an Israeli court is a money judgment that a claimant can take to the state court where you live and seek recognition under that state's version of the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act, and the defences available there are narrow: lack of jurisdiction over you, fraud, a judgment obtained without adequate notice, or conflict with public policy. Adequate notice is precisely the point that becomes difficult to argue if you received the papers, understood roughly what they were, and did nothing for a year. The mirror image of this exercise, when an American judgment is taken to Israel, is set out in our note on enforcing a US judgment against an Israeli company. Practical steps for a defendant abroad are unglamorous but decisive: have the documents translated properly rather than relying on a rough reading, note the date and manner of service in writing on the day it happens, and appoint an Israeli lawyer under a notarised and apostilled power of attorney within the first fortnight, since Israeli filings are made electronically by a licensed advocate and you cannot file a defence yourself from Teaneck.

In Practice: Regulation 166 of the Civil Procedure Regulations 5779-2018 supplies the grounds for service outside Israel, and Regulation 157(a) of the same regulations may later work in your favour by requiring a foreign claimant to deposit security for your costs. The statement of defence is due within 60 days of service, and objections to Israeli jurisdiction must be raised at the first opportunity or they fall away. Israeli court fees give a sense of what is at stake: a civil claim is charged at 2.5% of the amount claimed, so a NIS 800,000 claim carries about NIS 20,000 in fees paid in two instalments, and a defended case at the Magistrates Court typically runs 18 to 30 months from filing to judgment.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• The papers arrived by ordinary post or courier rather than through the American central authority, since defective service under the Hague Service Convention is a live defence that has to be raised before you engage with the merits.
• You believe the dispute belongs in a US court, where the jurisdiction objection must be filed at the first opportunity and is treated as waived if you answer the claim on its substance first.
• A default judgment has already been entered against you in Israel, in which case an application to set it aside and a parallel strategy for resisting recognition in your home state need to be run together.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

An Israeli lawyer can check whether service was valid, file a jurisdiction objection in time, and defend the claim itself without you having to appear in Israel.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.