Holocaust Victims' Assets Law (Restitution to Heirs and Dedication for Purposes of Assistance and Commemoration), 5766-2006
חוק נכסים של נספי השואה (השבה ליורשים והקדשה למטרות סיוע והנצחה), תשס"ו-2006
Published: 2006-01-03Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2025-08-14 · Last amended 2024-08-14✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-29
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Unofficial English translation — for reference only. It may contain errors or omissions and cannot be relied on as a legal text. Only the Hebrew text published in Reshumot is legally binding.More
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Section C: Additional Actions for Tracing Heirs and Holders of Rights
Publication and Inspection after the Special Tracing Process§
25.
(a)After the conclusion of the special tracing process as referred to in section 23, the company shall publish, once a year, on its website and among major Jewish organisations throughout the world, and shall make available for public inspection at its offices, the list of assets transferred to it during that year; the company shall also publish in two daily newspapers in the Hebrew language with wide circulation in Israel a notice of the publication of the list of assets as aforesaid; the publication shall include the details referred to in section 19(a)(2).
(b)At the end of six months from the date of publication as referred to in subsection (a), the company shall publish in respect of the list of assets that appeared in that publication, and in the places where it was published, also the details referred to in section 19(c); the company may publish the said information already in the publication of the list of assets pursuant to subsection (a), if it has in its possession, in addition to the said information, other information that will enable the verification of the authenticity of the requests that will be submitted to it pursuant to this Section.
(c)A list of all assets transferred to the company, as published over the years pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) and pursuant to section 19, and not yet restored to heirs and other holders of rights therein, shall be published on the company's website and shall be made available for public inspection at the company's offices and at other places as decided by the company.
Submission of Requests after the Special Tracing Process and Their Examination§
26.
Upon the expiry of the date for submitting requests pursuant to the provisions of section 20(a), a person claiming a right in an asset of a Holocaust victim that has been transferred to the company may submit to the company a request to receive the asset pursuant to the provisions of this Section; the provisions of sections 20(a) in fine and (b), 21, and 22(b) and (c) shall apply to the request and its examination; the company shall decide on the rights in the asset and shall communicate its decision to the applicant within six months of the date of submission of the request, and if the company requires additional information, from the applicant or from other sources, for the purpose of making the decision — within two months of the date of receipt of all such information, provided that if additional information is required from the applicant — the company demanded the information from him within four months of the date of submission of the request.
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Contact Us →Section D: Appeals Committee
Appeals Committee§
27.
(a)A committee of three members shall be established and appointed by the Minister, whose function shall be to hear appeals against decisions of the company on requests pursuant to this Chapter; and the following are the members of the appeals committee:
(1)a retired judge of a District Court, who shall be the chairperson;
(2)a lawyer qualified to serve as a judge of a Magistrate's Court;
(3)a person with knowledge and expertise in the subject of the Holocaust.
(b)In addition to the provisions of subsection (a), the appeals committee shall be competent:
(1)to give declarations of death, pursuant to the provisions of section 30;
(2)to compel a person to provide information, documents, particulars or explanations pursuant to the provisions of section 31;
(3)to give orders concerning the successors of Holocaust victims for the purposes of this Law, pursuant to the provisions of section 31a.
(c)The provisions of the Administrative Tribunals Law shall apply to the appeals committee, except for the provisions of sections 26, 30 and 31 of that Law, with this modification: wherever the words "administrative authority" appear, the word "company" shall be substituted.
Submission of an Appeal§
28.
(a)Any person who considers himself aggrieved by a decision of the company pursuant to sections 22 and 26 may appeal against it to the appeals committee within 45 days from the day on which it was delivered to him; the appeal shall be submitted pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Tribunals Law.
(b)The appeals committee may decide not to hear an appeal submitted against a decision of the company pursuant to section 26 if it finds that the delay in submitting the request after the end of the period prescribed in Section B was unjustified; a decision of the committee pursuant to this subsection shall be final; nothing in this subsection shall prevent the appellant from applying to the Jerusalem District Court in order to prove his rights in the asset.
Decision on an Appeal§
29.
(a)The appeals committee shall give its decision after having given the appellant, the representative of the company and any person who submitted a request in respect of the same asset an opportunity to present their arguments before it and to sum them up, in writing or orally, as they may request.
(b)The appeals committee shall be entitled to order one party to an appeal to pay the costs, including attorneys' fees, of the other party, upon the occurrence of one of the following:
(1)on the face of things there was no basis for submitting the appeal or on the face of things there was no basis for rejecting the request;
(2)a party to the appeal or that party's representative conducted the appeal in bad faith, in a vexatious manner, or prolonged it unnecessarily;
(3)there are other special circumstances that justify ordering one party to pay the other party's costs.
Declaration of the Death of a Holocaust Victim§
30.
(a)The appeals committee may declare the death of a Holocaust victim and shall have for that purpose all the powers vested in the Family Court pursuant to the Declaration of Death Law, 5738-1978; the provisions pursuant to that Law shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to a request for a declaration of death and the deliberation thereon; however, the chairperson of the committee may prescribe as a general rule that a provision of the said provisions shall not apply or that it shall apply with modifications.
(b)If a request for a declaration of death has been submitted to the appeals committee, it may transfer the request to the Family Court, if it sees fit to do so in light of the complexity of the request or for another reason.
(c)If the appeals committee has decided on a request for a declaration of death that was submitted to it following a decision of the company pursuant to section 22(c), it shall transmit a copy of the decision to the company, so that the company may give its decision on the request submitted to it in reliance on the decision of the appeals committee.
(d)A declaration of death given pursuant to this section shall be valid for the purpose of obtaining a succession order or a probate order to be used for receiving an asset pursuant to this Law, or for the purpose of a decision of the company as referred to in section 22(c), and for these purposes only.
Enforcement of a Demand for Provision of Information§
31.
The appeals committee may compel a person to provide information, documents, particulars or explanations that he is required to provide to the company for the purpose of carrying out its functions pursuant to the provisions of this Law, and it may compel him to appear before it for that purpose, and it shall have for that purpose the powers vested in a commission of inquiry pursuant to sections 9 to 11 of the Commissions of Inquiry Law, 5729-1968.
Order Concerning the Successors of a Holocaust Victim§
31a.
(a)If the company has made the giving of its decision on a request to receive an asset pursuant to this Chapter (in this section — a request to receive an asset) conditional upon the furnishing of a succession order or a probate order, the appeals committee may give an order concerning the successors of the Holocaust victim, which shall serve for the purposes of this Law as an alternative to a succession order or a probate order, all in accordance with provisions pursuant to this section.
(b)The following persons, subject to the conditions set out alongside them, may submit a request to the appeals committee for an order concerning the successors of the Holocaust victim (in this section — a request for the giving of an order):
(1)the person claiming a right in the asset as referred to in subsection (a) (in this section — the claimant of a right in the asset), provided that he has not submitted a request for the giving of a succession order or a probate order, or, if he has submitted such a request — his request has been struck out;
(2)the company, if in the circumstances of the matter and after having applied to every person who, according to the information in its possession, may be an heir or holder of a right in the asset, it has no reasonable grounds to assume that such a person will submit a request for the giving of a succession order or a probate order or a request for the giving of an order in respect of that asset.
(c)The applicant submitting the request for the giving of an order (in this section — the applicant) shall attach to the request all information known to him concerning the matters listed below, which is required for the purpose of giving the order:
(1)the composition of the family of the Holocaust victim by blood relationship and by marriage;
(2)the dates and order of death of members of the Holocaust victim's family.
(d)Upon submission of a request for the giving of an order, the applicant shall publish a notice of the submission of the request in a daily newspaper in the Hebrew language with wide circulation in Israel, and the applicant shall notify every person who, according to the information in his possession, may be an heir or holder of a right in the asset of the submission of the request, and if the applicant is the claimant of a right in the asset — also the company.
(e)A notice as referred to in subsection (d) shall include an invitation to submit to the appeals committee an objection to the request for the giving of an order within two weeks from the date of publication in the daily newspaper or from the date of delivery of the notice, whichever is later, or within a longer period as prescribed by the appeals committee.
(f)The company shall publish on its website a notice of the submission of a request for the giving of an order.
(g)The costs of publishing a notice of the submission of a request for the giving of an order as referred to in subsection (d) shall be borne —
(1)if the request for the giving of an order was submitted by the claimant of a right in the asset — by the applicant for the order;
(2)if the request for the giving of an order was submitted by the company — by the asset in respect of which the request was submitted.
(h)If a request for the giving of an order has been submitted to the appeals committee, the committee shall deliberate on the request and shall determine who the successors of the Holocaust victim are and their share in his rights, for the purposes of this Law, in accordance with the law of inheritance applicable to the matter, subject to the provisions of subsections (i) and (j); for the purpose of such determination, the appeals committee shall determine the composition of the Holocaust victim's family and the dates and order of deaths in the family.
(i)The provisions pursuant to this Law applicable to proceedings for the giving of a succession order or a probate order in respect of an asset of a Holocaust victim shall apply, with the necessary modifications, also to proceedings for the giving of an order pursuant to this section; however, the appeals committee shall not be bound in proceedings for the giving of an order pursuant to this section by the rules of procedure and the rules of evidence prescribed in the law of inheritance applicable to the matter or in the said provisions.
(j)Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (h), the appeals committee may transfer a request for the giving of an order submitted to it to the Family Court of the Tel Aviv District, if it sees fit to do so, inter alia due to the complexity of the request.
(k)If an objection to a request for the giving of an order as referred to in subsection (e) has been submitted to the appeals committee, the appeals committee shall transfer the determination of the dispute to the Family Court of the Tel Aviv District, unless it finds, for reasons that shall be recorded, that the objection does not raise a complex factual or legal dispute and that it is in a position to determine it.
(l)If the appeals committee finds that the conditions of subsection (k) are met and that it is in a position to determine the dispute, the appeals committee shall deliberate and decide on the request for the giving of an order and on the objection to the request, in accordance with the provisions of subsection (h).
(m)If a request for the giving of an order pursuant to subsection (j) or a request for the giving of an order and an objection to the request pursuant to subsection (k) have been transferred to the Family Court, the Family Court shall deliberate on the request or the objection, as the case may be, and shall decide thereon in accordance with the provisions of subsection (h).
(n)If a request for the giving of an order has been submitted to the appeals committee or transferred to the Family Court, and the appeals committee or the Family Court finds that a succession order or a probate order has been given in respect of that Holocaust victim, or if an objection to the request for the giving of an order has been submitted and the person submitting the objection has submitted to the Registrar for Inheritance Matters a request for the giving of a succession order or a probate order in respect of that Holocaust victim, the appeals committee or the Family Court shall order the striking out of the request for the giving of an order.
(o)If an order concerning the successors of a Holocaust victim has been given, the appeals committee or the Family Court that gave the order shall transmit a copy of the order to the parties to the proceedings and to the company, so that the company may give its decision on the request to receive an asset in reliance on the order as aforesaid.
(p)An order concerning the successors of a Holocaust victim shall have the same force as a decision as referred to in section 123(b)(2) of the Land Law, 5729-1969, and for the purposes of that section it shall be regarded as if it were a succession order given pursuant to this Law.
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