The Population and Immigration Authority granted the Office of the Ombudsman's request – and the evacuated soldier's address was changed retroactively, so that he could continue to receive the grant given to residents who had been evacuated during the war
The Office of the Ombudsman in the Office of the Israel State Comptroller and Omudsman assists IDF soldiers in dealing with bureaucratic difficulties they may encounter not only as soldiers but also in the civilian arena.
Recently, the Office of the Ombudsman received a complaint from a soldier who in his childhood had lived with his mother in the south of the country. In 2017 the two moved to a kibbutz in the north of the country, where the complainant attended school until he was drafted into the IDF in September 2023. Throughout this period, his registered address with the Population and Immigration Authority (hereafter - Population Authority) continued to be his former residence in the south of the country.
After the outbreak of the Swords of Iron War, the northern kibbutz where the complainant lived was evacuated, and he applied to change his registered address to the kibbutzretroactively to the date before the outbreak of the war. The Population Authority agreed to change his address going forward but not retroactively.
At first, the complainant received the grant given to evacuated residents who found alternate living quarters independently, but after it was decided to award such grants only to residents whose registered address with the Population Authorityhad beenin the eligible localities before the date when the localities were evacuated – the complainant stopped getting the grant because his registered address before the evacuation was in the south.
The complainant claimed that even though he presented evidence that he had lived in the north since 2017, the Population Authority refused his request, and demanded that he furnish proof of municipal tax and rent payments; however, he was unable to obtain such proof in his own name, since those payments were made in his mother's name.
The Office of the Ombudsman asked the complainant to provide documents showing that he had been living at the kibbutz for several years. He sent the Office documenation from various bodies (such as the HMO and local school) corroborating his residence in the kibbutz (, and the Office forwarded the documents to the Population Authority.
The Population Authority re-examined the complainant's request and decided to change his address retroactively.
Consequently, the complainant received the grant, thanking the Office of the Ombudsman for its assistance.
