Aussie trapped in Israel
Australia ex-pat Noam Huppert is officially barred from leaving Israel until he has paid future child support payments.
Noam Huppert
The No Exit Order has resulted in thousands of men in Israel being forced to pay 50 – 100% of their own salary.
His future debt of 5000 Israeli shekels per month will be around NIS300,000 (A$132,000) all up until they turn 18, “said Mr Huppert, who works as an analytical chemist for a pharmaceutical company.
Until he pays the money, Mr Hubbert is barred from leaving the country for any reason – even for holiday or work. He has been in Israel since 2013 having made Aliyah from2012, having moved from Australia to stay closer to his children. who are now 11 and 14.
He lives in Haifa.
Marianne Azizi, an independent British journalist who has been campaigning to raise awareness of the issue, said it was “almost impossible to ascertain” the exact number of men affected.
Azizi first began investigating the issue when her own husband became trapped in Israel following a visit to see his children.
After self-publishing a book about her experience with the Israeli justice system, Sour Milk and Stolen Honey, she began collecting testimonials from people in the same position.
“I was later to learn that men were suffering in silence and shame,” she writes. “The subject was taboo.”
Movie director Sorin Luca is making No Exit Order, a documentary on Israel’s divorce laws.
On the No Exit Order website, he writes such orders are “almost unheard of in the West, nor used by any countries in the manner it is exercised in Israel.
A woman can easily put a travel ban on the father, with a demand for child support which can extend to the entire duration of the childhood.
Once a father has the order, he can be imprisoned for up to 21 days, whether he has the ability to pay or not – without any investigation of his finances. Men are expected to pay 100 per cent or even more of their income to pay for their children.”
From the Department of Law Enforcement and Collection Systems Upper red box: Compulsory restriction of receiving or holding a passport
Lower red box Restriction of leaving Israel Date started 17/2/2019: end of period 31/12/9999
Writing in The Times of Israel in 2013, blogger Adam Herscu warned that Israeli fathers were “an endangered species”.
“If you’re planning on moving to Israel and starting a family there, you need to understand that the family laws are draconian and excessively discriminatory against men – that there are good chances that you will be treated as a criminal and relegated to the role of visitor/ATM,” he wrote.
If anyone does choose to go to the Supreme Court regarding in Hubbert’s eyes this human rights violation, the kids’ rights are considered more important than the father’s need to travel or leave the country.
Huppert feels that he has/had no intention of leaving his children in the first place. He is concerned about how this no exit law has affected his day to day life, and the relationship he is having with his children.
If the monthly fee is not paid there are sanctions imposed.
Huppert believes that the wives are going to court to set this up. Noam feels that it is a bit of a trend. It is a unique system, it is a relatively obscure aspect of Israeli divorce law.
The exit law is for anyone who owes money. This however is future money, for the children.
Noam feels that people should be aware of this law and how draconian this law is, and the effect it has on parents in Israel.
“It is not the ideal situation to be in, I feel that my human rights have been taken. At some stage, they did come up with preventing me from renewal of driver’s license. But this sanction was luckily cancelled. I feel that I have no choices. ”
