Military Cemeteries Law, 5710-1950

In this Law –

"military service" means –

"soldier" means – a person in military service;

"reservist" – as defined in the Reserve Service Law, 5768-2008;

"cadet" and "associate" – as defined in military orders; for this purpose, "military orders" – as defined in the Military Justice Law, 5715-1955;

"security forces" – the General Security Service, the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, the Israel Police and the Prison Service;

"warder" – as defined in the Prison Ordinance [New Version], 5732-1971;

"security services employee" – an employee of the General Security Service or of the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations;

"police officer" – as defined in the Police Ordinance [New Version], 5731-1971;

"firefighter" – as defined in the National Fire and Rescue Authority Law, 5772-2012;

"non-military cemetery" means – an area of land in which the burial of the dead is permitted by virtue of section 8(4) of the Public Health Ordinance, 1940;

"military grave" means – the grave of a soldier who has died;

"military headstone" – everything erected on a military grave;

"the competent authority" – the Head of the Soldier Commemoration Unit in the Ministry of Defence, and if that person is prevented from performing his duties – the person appointed thereto by the Minister of Defence;

"relative", in relation to a soldier who has died, means – a person whose name is registered on the personal registration card in use in the Israel Defence Forces as the person closest to the deceased; and in the absence of such registration – the person closest to the deceased in accordance with the provisions of the Schedule to this Law, and for the purposes of section 5, each of the relatives listed in paragraph (a)(1) to (4) of the Schedule;

"military doctor" means – a qualified physician serving in the Israel Defence Forces.

The Minister of Defence may declare, by a declaration to be published in Reshumot (Official Gazette), that an area of land described in the declaration shall be a military cemetery.

Where a soldier has died during a period of combat, the soldier may be brought to burial without the relative having been given the opportunity to choose the place of burial as provided in section 4.

Where a soldier who died during a period of combat was brought to burial in a temporary military cemetery, the following provisions shall apply to the transfer of the body from the place of burial:

Where a soldier who died during a period of combat was brought to burial in a military cemetery or in a non-military cemetery not chosen by the relative, the following provisions shall apply to the transfer of the body from the place of burial:

The competent authority shall notify a registration officer as referred to in the Population Registry Law, 5725-1965, for the purposes of registration under that Law, of the military cemetery or non-military cemetery to which the body of a soldier who died during a period of combat has been transferred.

For the purposes of sections 8 and 10, a temporary military cemetery shall have the same status as a military cemetery.

Section 4 shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to a person who, at the time of death, was one of the following:

Section 4 shall apply, with the necessary modifications, also to one of the following:

Where a soldier or one of those listed in section 4f was hospitalised in hospitalisation continuous to an injury sustained in the course of service or training, as the case may be, and as a result of such injury, and died during the course of hospitalisation, the provisions of this Law shall apply to that person with the necessary modifications, even if the person was discharged or released from service during the hospitalisation; in this section, "hospitalisation" – hospitalisation that is not day hospitalisation.

In a military cemetery, a plot shall be designated, as far as possible, and by decision of the competent authority, for a person who was a member of the security forces entitled to be buried in a military cemetery under sections 4f(1) to (3a) and 4g(3) and (4).

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 4 to 4c and 4f to 4h, the following shall not be brought to burial in a military cemetery –

The provisions of sections 7(2), (3) and (5), 8(2) and (3) and 20(3) of the Public Health Ordinance, 1940, shall apply to military cemeteries and the burial of soldiers therein with such modifications as are required by the subject matter; provided that in place of the terms "government physician", "District Governor" and "health inspector" in sections 8(2) and (3) and 20(3), the term "military doctor" shall be substituted.