How do I find out what personal information an Israeli bank or company holds about me if I live in Australia?

Israel gave individuals a statutory right to see their own data long before Europe did, and it survives in the Privacy Protection Law 5741-1981 in language that predates the internet. It is a useful tool when an Israeli bank has closed your account without explanation, when an insurer has declined a claim, or when a former Israeli employer is thought to be circulating something about you. The right belongs to any person. Nothing in the section limits it to residents or citizens.

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Detailed Answer

Section 13 gives every person the right to approach the owner of a database and require to know whether information about them is held there, and if it is, to inspect it. The owner must comply within 30 days, either by supplying the information in a legible copy or by allowing the applicant to inspect it. Section 14 is the second half of the right: where the information turns out to be incorrect, incomplete, unclear or not up to date, the individual may demand that it be corrected or deleted, and if the owner decides not to correct it, the owner must say so and must allow the individual to attach their own statement to the record. Section 15 provides the remedy where the owner refuses, by way of application to the Magistrates Court. Amendment 13 to the Law, which came into force on 14 August 2025, did not remove the inspection right but changed the environment around it substantially. It modernised the core definitions, imposed governance duties including the appointment of a privacy officer in defined cases, created obligations for data brokers, and gave the Privacy Protection Authority real enforcement teeth, with administrative fines reaching into the millions of shekels and statutory damages available to individuals without proof of harm. A database owner that ignores a Section 13 demand today is exposed in a way it was not two years ago.

For an applicant in Melbourne or Sydney the obstacles are practical rather than legal. The demand should be in Hebrew or accompanied by a Hebrew version, should identify you precisely enough for the database owner to locate the record, and should specify a delivery method that works across a border, because the default assumption in these regulations is that you will walk into a branch. Identity verification is where these requests stall: an Israeli institution will typically want a certified copy of your passport, and where the record is keyed to an Israeli identity number you will need to give it. Where you no longer hold Israeli documents at all, the request is best made through an Israeli lawyer holding a specific power of attorney, notarised in Australia and apostilled by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, because a general power of attorney is often refused for privacy requests. Note the different route for credit data: information in the Bank of Israel credit register is not obtained under Section 13 at all, and our answer on how a non-resident obtains and corrects an Israeli credit file explains that separate procedure. Where the holder is a public authority rather than a private business, the Freedom of Information route may reach material that the privacy right does not.

In Practice: Section 13 of the Privacy Protection Law 5741-1981 entitles any person to demand to know whether a database holds information about them and to inspect it, with the owner required to respond within 30 days. Section 14 covers correction and deletion, including the right to attach your own statement where the owner refuses, and Section 15 takes a refusal to the Magistrates Court. Amendment 13 came into force on 14 August 2025 and gave the Privacy Protection Authority administrative fines reaching NIS 9,000,000 per violation or 5% of annual turnover, with statutory damages of up to NIS 10,000 available to an individual without proof of damage. An Australian apostille from DFAT costs AUD 102 and issues in about 3 business days.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• The database owner is refusing on the basis that you cannot prove your identity from abroad. Identity verification is the standard point of failure, and it is solved by a properly drawn specific power of attorney rather than by sending more documents.
• The information you expect to find concerns a closed Israeli bank account or a declined insurance claim. Section 13 gets you the record, but what you do with it engages the Banking (Service to Customer) Law 5741-1981 or the Insurance Contract Law 5741-1981 and needs to be planned before the demand is sent.
• You want the information deleted rather than corrected. Deletion under Section 14 is contested far more often than correction, and the owner's refusal has to be taken to the Magistrates Court on a properly evidenced application.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We draft and serve the Section 13 demand in the form Israeli database owners accept, deal with the identity verification, and take a refusal to the Magistrates Court where the 30 days pass without a proper answer.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.