On 7 November 2023, a month after the war broke out, a customer of Mizrahi Tefahot Leasing left Israel. He did not return until 12 July 2025. That is what the Population Authority's traveller status certificate states.
He did not disappear. On 17 April 2024 he wrote to an employee of Mizrahi Tefahot Bank: "I am not in the country and I have no intention of returning in the near future. I want to pay off the loan and sell the car myself".
On 2 May 2024 he wrote on WhatsApp to a representative of the law firm Chen Fisher Gabbay, which was handling the collection. He wrote that he was abroad, sent a copy of his passport and a landing confirmation, and stated that he did not live at the registered address. He gave the reason explicitly: "so that there will be no services I don't know about in the file". A week later the firm sent him the amount of the debt.
On 10 December 2024 he wrote to the firm again: "I have been abroad since November 2023".
Twelve days later, on 22 December 2024, the process server Naamneh Salameh reported that he had visited a nonexistent address, met the customer, and that the customer "received the documents and refused to sign". The report is addressed to the Chen Fisher Gabbay firm, under internal file 20905/247.1. This was the second execution file opened against him, bill file number 506468-12-24.
On that day, according to the Population Authority, the customer was not in Israel.
On 18 February 2025 the creditor, Mizrahi Tefahot Leasing, requested an information order on the customer's departures from and entries into Israel. The answer was received on 12 March 2025. From that day the creditor held an official record: the customer was abroad.
116 days later, on 6 July 2025, the creditor filed a request to impose restrictions on him. The next day they were ordered: a restriction on leaving the country, a restriction on obtaining or holding a passport, a charge card restriction, a corporate restriction and "special restricted customer" status. When the request was filed, the customer was still abroad.
In brief
- The customer told the bank employee and the law firm that he was abroad, and sent a copy of his passport.
- On 22 December 2024 it was reported that he had received a warning in Israel and "refused to sign". On that day he was abroad.
- On 12 March 2025 the creditor obtained his records of departure from the country. On 6 July 2025 it asked for an exit ban against him.
- On 21 October 2025 the registrar found that on the day of service the customer was abroad, and cancelled all the proceedings and the restrictions.
Why service is the basis for the exit ban
An exit ban is one of the restrictions a creditor can request in an execution file. According to the website of the Enforcement and Collection Authority, restrictions may be requested against a debtor who is not of limited means and is evading payment, provided that 6 months have passed "since the date the warning was served on the debtor" and the debt exceeds NIS 2,500, or a year has passed and the debt exceeds NIS 500.
In other words, the clock starts ticking on the day the warning is served. In the bill file, the only warning was the service reported on 22 December 2024. Six months after it is 22 June 2025. The request for restrictions was filed two weeks later.
Without this service there was no date from which six months could be counted. These documents indicate that the entire chain of restrictions rested on an encounter that, according to the official records, could not have taken place.
What the creditor knew, and when
The border control records were not supplied by the customer. The creditor requested them itself. According to the file's information orders report, the order was created on 18 February 2025, was not required by the registrar, and the answer was received on 12 March 2025.
After the records were received, no request was filed to cancel the service or to serve the warning again. Instead, on 21 April 2025, another service was reported in the pledge file in the same manner: the same process server, the same nonexistent address, he "met the addressee" and the addressee "refused to sign". The report is addressed to the same firm, under internal file 20905/247.
Both files are handled by the same law firm, under the same internal number, 20905/247 and 20905/247.1. These documents indicate that this is not a case of one party's knowledge failing to reach another.
The decision of 7 July 2025 is a standard form decision: "Having found that at least one of the conditions set out in section 66B of the Law is met in his case". It makes no mention of the departure records that had already been in the file for four months. The request document itself, request 44, was not found in the material downloaded from the file, so what was argued in it is not known.
The registrar cancels
In September 2025 the customer learned of the bill file. He filed an objection and attached the traveller status certificate. On 30 September 2025 the registrar required the creditor to respond to the findings of the process server's affidavit in light of the entries and departures report.
On 19 October 2025 attorney Dotan Tzur responded on behalf of the creditor. The response states: "We are entirely exempt from going into the question of the accuracy of the process server's affidavit". Of the customer it says that he "left (not to say fled) abroad".
On 21 October 2025 the registrar ruled. He found that "as of the date of service of the warning reported by the creditor (22.12.2024), the debtor was outside the borders of the State of Israel". He corrected the date of service of the warning to 29 September 2025, and ordered "the cancellation of all the proceedings carried out in the file, and the cancellation of the second stage attorney fees added to the debt in the file".
On the same day a notice was issued cancelling the restrictions: the corporate restriction, the restriction on obtaining or holding a passport, the charge card restriction, special restricted customer status, and the restriction on leaving the country.
The decision did not cancel the debt itself, and the examination of the merits of the debt was transferred to the court. The objection was dismissed on 31 May 2026, and on 7 June 2026 restrictions were imposed in the file again, including a restriction on leaving the country. This time the customer was already in Israel.
What an exit ban means for someone who is already abroad
A restriction on leaving the country is meant to prevent a debtor who is evading payment from leaving Israel. Here it was imposed on a person who was already outside Israel, who had informed the creditor and its lawyers of this, and who had asked to pay off the loan. Along with it, a restriction on obtaining or holding a passport was also imposed.
For a person who is abroad and holds an Israeli passport, such a restriction can affect the ability to renew documents and the return itself. The customer returned to Israel on 12 July 2025, five weeks before the restrictions took effect, on 19 August 2025.
Read also: Sewer Service ISRAEL: the American method that reached the Execution Office · Mizrahi Tefahot Leasing car loan? · Defamation in front of a bank representative: is Mizrahi Tefahot Bank liable for the words of attorney Dotan Tzur?
What this article does not determine
This article does not determine who knew what inside the law firm, and does not determine that any of this was deliberate. The decision of 21 October 2025 finds that the customer was abroad on the day of the reported service, and does not determine who is responsible for the report.
Questions for Mizrahi Tefahot Leasing and the Chen Fisher Gabbay firm
- What was done with the customer's messages of 2 May 2024 and 10 December 2024 stating that he was abroad?
- Who requested the information order on departures from Israel, and who read the answer of 12 March 2025?
- Why was a request for a restriction on leaving the country filed after records showing that the customer was abroad had been received?
- What was argued in request 44 regarding the service of the warning?
- Who instructed the process server to carry out the services of 22 December 2024 and 21 April 2025, and to which address?
This article is based on the traveller status certificate, on the customer's correspondence with the bank employee and with the law firm, on the service reports, on the information orders report and the events report in file 506468-12-24, and on the decisions of 7 July 2025, 21 October 2025 and 7 June 2026. The conditions for restrictions are taken from the website of the Enforcement and Collection Authority. A response from the creditor and its lawyers will be published if received.
Frequently asked questions about exit bans in Israeli debt enforcement
When can a creditor request an exit ban in Israeli debt enforcement?
According to the website of the Enforcement and Collection Authority, a creditor may request restrictions, including a restriction on leaving the country, against a debtor who is not of limited means and is evading payment, if 6 months have passed since the warning was served and the debt exceeds NIS 2,500, or if a year has passed since the warning was served and the debt exceeds NIS 500.
How do I check whether I have an exit ban in Israel?
You can check in the personal area of the Enforcement and Collection Authority website, by ID number, which restrictions are registered in each file. For each restriction the file, the date of the decision and the validity of the restriction are shown.
How do I cancel restrictions in an Israeli execution file?
You file a request with the execution registrar to cancel the restrictions, with reasons and supporting documents. When the basis for the restriction is a service of the warning that never took place, you can ask to cancel the service itself, and all the proceedings that relied on it are cancelled with it.
What happens if the warning was served while the debtor was abroad?
In the file described in this article, the registrar found that on the day of the reported service the debtor was outside the borders of Israel, corrected the date of service of the warning, and cancelled all the proceedings carried out in the file and the attorney fees that had been added. On the same day the restrictions were also cancelled, including the restriction on leaving the country.
Can a creditor check whether the debtor is abroad?
Yes. A creditor can request an information order from the Population Authority on departures from and entries into Israel. In the file described in this article, the order was created on 18 February 2025, and the answer was received on 12 March 2025.