Telephone Number Blocking for the Prevention of Offences Law, 5778-2018

חוק חסימת מספר טלפון לשם מניעת ביצוע עבירות, תשע"ח-2018

Published: 2018-03-19Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2026-08-02 · Last amended 2026-07-28✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-28

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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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The Hebrew text as published in Reshumot (ספר החוקים) and on the Knesset website is the sole authoritative and legally binding version. In any discrepancy, the Hebrew text prevails.

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Definitions§

In this Law –

"connectivity agreement" means an agreement for the provision of telecommunications services;

"National Security Committee" means the National Security Committee of the Knesset;

"Arrests Law" means the Criminal Procedure Law (Enforcement Powers – Arrests), 5756-1996;

"Communications Law" means the Communications Law (Telecommunications and Broadcasting), 5742-1982;

"telephone number blocking" means any of the following:

(1)blocking a telephone number's access to a cellular operator's communications network;

(2)requiring a cellular operator to refrain from entering into a connectivity agreement for the provision of access to that operator's communications network, in respect of a telephone number;

"identification data database (communications)" has the meaning assigned to it in section 7(a) of the Criminal Procedure Law (Enforcement Powers – Communications Data), 5768-2007;

"holder" means a person using a telephone number for the purpose of receiving telecommunications services, even if that person is not a subscriber;

"subscriber" means a person who has entered into a connectivity agreement with a cellular operator;

"telephone number" has the meaning assigned to it in section 5a of the Communications Law;

"text message" (SMS) has the meaning assigned to it in section 5b(f) of the Communications Law;

"cellular operator" means a licensed provider as defined in the Communications Law, that provides pursuant to that Law a telecommunications service delivered by means of a telecommunications network that is a mobile radio telephone system, whether the telecommunications network belongs to the service provider or to another licensed provider;

"offence" means any of the following:

(1)an offence under section 205a, 205c or 205d of the Penal Law, 5737-1977;

(2)an offence under section 13, 14 or 21 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance [New Version], 5733-1973;

(3)an offence under section 7 or 8 of the Law to Combat the Phenomenon of the Use of Harmful Substances, 5773-2013;

"administrative blocking order" means an order for the blocking of a telephone number issued under section 2;

"judicial blocking order" means an order for the blocking of a telephone number issued under section 3;

"authorised police officer" means a police officer of the rank of Deputy Commissioner or above;

"telecommunications services" has the meaning assigned to it in the Communications Law;

"prosecutor" has the meaning assigned to it in section 12 of the Criminal Procedure Law [Consolidated Version], 5742-1982, and also includes a police officer of the rank of Inspector or above authorised for this purpose by the Inspector General of the Israel Police.

Administrative Blocking Order§

(a)Where an authorised police officer has reasonable grounds to believe that a telephone number is being publicised to the public for the purpose of committing an offence, including by means of the internet and technological applications (in this Law – publication to the public), and that there are reasonable grounds for concern that it will continue to be used for publication as aforesaid if it is not blocked immediately, the officer may issue an order to the cellular operator with whom the subscriber has entered into a connectivity agreement and to additional operators, directing the blocking of the telephone number for a period to be determined in the order, which shall not exceed 30 days; the order shall not specify the offence on account of which the telephone number is being blocked.

(b)An administrative blocking order shall not be issued unless notice of the intention to issue the order, specifying the grounds for its issuance (in this Law – notice), has been given to the holder or subscriber, and the holder or subscriber has been afforded an opportunity to state their arguments within 24 hours of the time the notice was given, in the manner to be specified in the notice; the notice shall also specify a telephone number for purposes of contact, which shall be available for at least 12 hours per day; for the purposes of this subsection, a notice delivered by means of a call, voice message or text message to the telephone number shall be deemed to have been given to the holder or subscriber.

(c)A subscriber or holder may state their arguments even after an authorised police officer has directed the blocking as aforesaid; however, this shall not serve to delay the blocking.

(d)An administrative blocking order shall specify the telephone number in respect of which the order is issued, the subscriber's particulars insofar as they are recorded in the identification data database (communications), and the period of validity of the order.

(e)An appeal against a decision of an authorised police officer in the matter of an administrative blocking order may be lodged, within the period of validity of the order, with the Magistrate's Court in which the President of the Magistrate's Court sits, and the court shall hear the appeal as soon as possible.

(f)Where an administrative blocking order has been issued pursuant to the provisions of this section, an authorised police officer may issue only one additional administrative blocking order in respect of the same telephone number within a period of two years from the date on which the first order was issued; however, nothing in the foregoing shall prevent an authorised police officer from applying to the court for a judicial blocking order under section 3.

Judicial Blocking Order§

(a)The Magistrate's Court in which the President of the Magistrate's Court sits may order as specified below, if satisfied that the blocking of the telephone number is essential for preventing the continuation of publication to the public for the purpose of committing the offence on account of which an administrative blocking order was issued, and may repeatedly order the extension of the validity of the order for an additional period not exceeding 60 days from time to time:

(1)upon a written application by a prosecutor – to issue an order directing the extension of the validity of an administrative blocking order for an additional period not exceeding 60 days;

(2)upon a written application by a prosecutor, submitted at the request of an authorised police officer – to issue an order directing the blocking of a telephone number in respect of which two administrative blocking orders were issued as referred to in section 2(f), for a period not exceeding 30 days.

(b)Where an indictment has been filed in respect of an offence, the court hearing the indictment may, upon an application by a prosecutor, order as specified below, if satisfied that the blocking of the telephone number is essential for preventing the continuation of publication to the public for the purpose of committing the offence; the court may so order until the conclusion of the proceedings or until an earlier date to be determined, and may repeatedly order the extension of the validity of the order for an additional period from time to time, and where the proceedings have concluded in a conviction – until another date to be determined, not exceeding five additional years from the conclusion of the proceedings:

(1)to order cellular operators as referred to in section 2(a) to block the telephone number that is published to the public for the purpose of committing the offence as referred to in that section;

(2)to order the extension of the validity of an administrative blocking order or a judicial blocking order.

(c)Where an application for the extension of the validity of a blocking order under subsection (a) or (b) has been submitted to the court, the hearing on the extension application shall be held as soon as possible and the original order shall remain in force for an additional period of 30 days from the end of the period directed by the authorised police officer, unless the court has determined otherwise.

(d)The court may reconsider a judicial blocking order if it sees fit to do so by reason of changed circumstances or facts that came to light after the order was issued.

(e)An appeal against a decision of the court under this section may be lodged with the appellate court within 30 days of the date on which the decision was given.

Procedure in an Application for a Judicial Blocking Order§

With respect to an application for a judicial blocking order, the following provisions shall apply:

(1)the application shall be submitted in writing and supported by a declaration of an authorised police officer, and, insofar as possible, also by a copy of the publication of the number to the public;

(2)the respondents to the application shall be the subscriber and the holder, insofar as their identity is known or insofar as they can be located with reasonable diligence;

(3)the hearing of the application shall be held in the presence of the respondents; however, the court may issue a judicial blocking order ex parte if it is of the opinion that the respondents who did not appear at the hearing were lawfully summoned to the hearing;

(4)for the purposes of its decision on the application, the judge may rely on evidence even if it is inadmissible at trial.

Classified Material§

(a)In a hearing on an application for a judicial blocking order and also on appeal against a decision of the court to grant such an order, a plaintiff may request to detail or present before the court alone facts or information on which the plaintiff bases the plaintiff's arguments (in this section – classified material); an application under this section (in this section – application for non-disclosure of classified material) shall be submitted in writing accompanied by reasons.

(b)The court may grant the application for non-disclosure of classified material and rely on the classified material, if it finds that disclosure thereof in the presence of the respondents is liable to harm an investigation or another important public interest; the classified material shall be marked, returned to the applicant after inspection, and this shall be recorded in the minutes.

(c)The court shall notify the applicant and the respondents of its decision on the application for non-disclosure of classified material and may determine that the reasons for the decision, in whole or in part, shall be classified.

(d)Should the court decide not to grant the application for non-disclosure of classified material, the applicant may notify that the applicant withdraws the submission of the classified material, and upon doing so the material shall not be made available for inspection by the respondents and the judge shall disregard it for the purposes of the judge's decisions.

(e)If at the time of the hearing on the application for non-disclosure of classified material there was also pending a proceeding under Section C of Chapter II of the Arrests Law in respect of a suspect in an offence in connection with which the application was submitted, the provisions of subsections (a) to (d) shall not apply and the provisions of section 15(c) to (e) of the Arrests Law shall apply to the hearing on the application.

(f)Should the court decide not to grant the application for non-disclosure of classified material, a plaintiff may appeal against the decision of the court on this matter within 15 days from the date of the decision, before an appellate court which shall hear the appeal before a single judge.

(g)Should a plaintiff notify the court that decided as stated in subsection (f) that the plaintiff is considering filing an appeal as stated in that subsection, the court shall not transmit the classified material to the respondents until the appeal is determined.

(h)In a hearing on an appeal under subsection (f), the court may inspect the classified material and receive additional details from the plaintiff without disclosing them to the respondents.

Implementation of a Direction under the Order§

A cellular operator shall act to implement a direction issued in an administrative blocking order or a judicial blocking order, immediately and no later than 24 hours from the time of its receipt; in calculating the said period, hours falling on a day that is not a business day shall not be taken into account.

Implementation and Regulations§

The Minister of Internal Security is charged with the implementation of this Law and may, with the approval of the National Security Committee, make Regulations for its implementation.

Report to the Knesset – Temporary Provision§

During a period of three years from the date of publication of this Law, the Minister of Internal Security shall report in writing to the National Security Committee, on 1 March of each year, on all of the following, broken down by offence:

(1)the number of blocking orders issued under sections 2 and 3, including the number of orders issued for the extension of such orders and the number of orders issued under section 2(f) and the length of time that elapsed between the issuance of the orders under section 2(f);

(2)the number of blocking orders that were revoked before the end of the period prescribed in the order or that were not extended, broken down into orders revoked by an authorised officer and orders not extended or revoked by the court.

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חוק חסימת מספר טלפון לשם מניעת ביצוע עבירות, תשע"ח-2018

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Telephone Number Blocking for the Prevention of Offences Law, 5778-2018

Definitions§Cite ✦

Administrative Blocking Order§Cite ✦

Judicial Blocking Order§Cite ✦

Procedure in an Application for a Judicial Blocking Order§Cite ✦

Classified Material§Cite ✦

Implementation of a Direction under the Order§Cite ✦

Implementation and Regulations§Cite ✦

Report to the Knesset – Temporary Provision§Cite ✦