Emergency regulations, such as the one currently in which the State of Israel is located, do not allow the initiation of execution proceedings for women who do not receive alimony for their children. This is according to a statement issued by the Enforcement and Collection Authority shortly after the declaration of war. This means that thousands of women are already paying an economic price that will weigh on them as the war drags on.
Documentation: First Cabinet Meeting of the Emergency Government // Roy Avraham / GPO, Sound: Ben Peretz / GPO
The Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law and the Women's Lobby sent an urgent letter to Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Enforcement and Collection Authority Director Uri Wallerstein, demanding that requests for alimony be included in the list of urgent matters that can be acted upon in the execution system. The goal is to minimize the damage caused to children whose parents do not pay child support for them.
At the same time, MK Merav Cohen (Yesh Atid) wrote to the Ministry of Finance and the Governor of the Bank of Israel with a proposal that they order the freezing of contracts and payments for a period of three months for those whose income was directly affected by the war and who find it difficult to meet their current obligations. "Although some of the contracts and payments in the economy have been frozen, there are many payments and contracts that have not been frozen, such as rent on the house or business, monthly loan repayments, and so on. A distorted and unnecessary reality has been created," Cohen wrote in her letter. This proposal, if adopted, will help not only the thousands of women who do not receive alimony and cannot initiate collection proceedings at the Execution Office, but tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, more in the country.
Execution Office,
Emergency regulations have been extended until 3 November, but are expected to be extended. "This state of affairs creates clear discrimination against women. While debtors are entitled to relief from paying their debts, at the same time, custodial mothers who are forced to support their children themselves due to non-payment of child support are left unable to collect what is due to their children. All this at a time when the economy is limited in its functioning," said the letter sent to the justice minister and the director of the Enforcement and Collection Authority.
The Rackman Center and the Women's Lobby note that the execution director may, by virtue of his authority, determine additional types of matters that will be discussed in the execution offices during wartime, and call for this to be done in order to minimize the harm to children.
B. is a single mother of a child who for more than a decade has been struggling with her ex-husband to pay child support regularly. Once every few months, she says, he stops paying, and then she has to go to the execution office. A few months ago, he stopped paying again, creating a debt of thousands of shekels. She went to court and after a long process received a verdict, with which she turned to the execution office. A few days after the war, she discovered that the execution process had been frozen.
He was approached with an urgent letter. Minister of Justice Yariv Levin, Photo: Mark Israel Salem
"They told me they had been instructed not to take any action because of the war," she says. "Why do they give a reward to someone who breaks the law? I need this money to buy food for my child. Instead of taking care of us, the weak, does the state take care of those who don't pay and give them gifts? It's just absurd."
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