Navigating Israeli Bureaucracy

Posted on August 5, 2008
Filed Under Bituach Leumi, Bureaucracy, Gogimon, Israel, bureaucrats, government, governmental organizations, insurance | 2 Comments

Hamosad L’Bituach Leumi is the Hebrew name for the Israel National Insurance organization.

Sounds like a nice name, but just the mere mention of this governmental organization can bring the most hardened Israelis to a state of complete paralysis. For most, war is a cinch and reserve duty in the refugee camps of Gaza a mini-vacation. What strikes fear more than anything else is the long hand of Bituach Leumi.

All they need to do is to send one fax to your bank on a debt of 15 shekel (about $4) and you are completely destitute, ruined, destroyed! If you have been working for an employer then, by law, a part of your salary is sent presumably to the National insurance organization. That’s the good news, the bad news is that Bituach Leumi assumes it is being cheated and acts punitively before asking any questions.

You are guilty until proved innocent. When you are accused, rightly or wrongly, of not paying your national insurance debt that’s when the fun starts. The first thing that happens is the innocent phone call from a bank clerk telling you life is on hold. What does on hold mean? It means your assets have been frozen and you are stranded without a dime to your name. She tells you this as she is scurrying out of the bank long after it is possible to contact someone at the insurance company for explanations. That means that you simmer till the next morning and try to figure out which month or months your premium was not paid or not registered. If all this happens while you are abroad you may be stuck in transit somewhere unable to use your credit cards for anything. Overnight you are turned into a pauper unable to buy a loaf of bread or bus fare to go home. You are terrified by the fact that somebody who works for Bituach Leumie can has total power over your life and can exercise it at a whim. You sweat and twitch thinking what you need to say to the relevant clerks to reverse the process.

The time has arrived to go to war. With great fear and trepidation you pick up the phone and call the insurance agency. They tell you that they are only information but the real culprits can not be called only faxed. You are told if you fax them with your number they will call you back. You fax and they actually call. The conversation goes something like this:

Them: Is this the party that faxed me?

You: Is this Bitucah Leumi?

Them: yes

You: Why have you told my bank to freeze my assets?

Them: We have no record of you paying your premium for a year and a half.

You: Of course I paid! Through my employer

Them: We have no record that you worked at all

You: ( hitting the roof and screaming ) Of course I worked!

Them: You will need to prove that.

You: How do I prove that?

Them: Send your salary summaries provide by your employer.

At this point you start frantically looking through your records for your salary summaries that can be sent as proof that you are right and they are wrong

5 minutes later….

You: I have found my salary summaries.

Them: Fax them to us.

You: OK

10 minutes later …

Them: OK, this good but not good enough. The bank freeze will continue

You: This is crazy!

Them: Maybe you are right, we will send you a fax that you can send to the bank to undo the freeze

They send the fax undoing the freeze.

As this saga is ending the bank calls up asking if I have done anything to rectify the freeze on my assets. I tell them of the glorious fax and they say a fax of the cancellation of the freeze is not good enough only the original will do.

In the end I am not sure if there is a freeze on my account or not. What I do know is that I have spent a full day trying to fix the muddle ups of a few.

I guess that’s what national insurance is there for anyway, right?

David Waldman

[David waldman is Marketing Director at an Israeli startup, Gogimon seach channel]

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Comments

2 Responses to “Navigating Israeli Bureaucracy”

Kate from Mississippi, United States on August 6th, 2008 3:14 pm

Pardon my French…but HOLY crap! Who gave them the power to do such a thing? Is there no way to stop this abuse?
Commando Leader from New York, United States on August 6th, 2008 3:45 pm

It’s plain and simple Kate. Typical Middle Eastern bureaucratic mind at work.