Price-Eligible Homebuyers Petition Israel’s High Court Over Retroactive Ban

An urgent petition was filed Sunday to Israel’s High Court of Justice against a decision by the Israel Lands Council that immediately bars holders of existing eligibility certificates from joining lotteries in the subsidized housing program, known as "Dira Behanacha" and "Mechir Matar." The petition, filed by attorney Yehuda Abels on behalf of the organization Emet LeYaakov in Israel and certificate holders, asks the court to issue an emergency order freezing the next lottery and extending registration, which is set to close on June 22, until the case is decided.

According to the petition, the Housing and Construction Ministry has spent months issuing eligibility certificates that are valid for 12 months, and buyers paid for them and planned their finances around the program. On May 24, the Israel Lands Council, under pressure from the High Court itself, added a new rule saying anyone listed by the IDF as draft-eligible but without an arranged status cannot enter the lotteries. Registration for a new lottery opened the next day, and the new rule was applied immediately to certificates issued months earlier.

The petitioners say people who obtained certificates legally were suddenly blocked with no prior notice, no transition period, and no chance to prepare. They argue the state also denied them any appeal or hearing before blocking them, because the system automatically relies on IDF data without any way to challenge possible mistakes. They further contend that the military-status requirement is legally problematic, and note that the Housing and Construction Ministry’s legal adviser had already warned about difficulties with such a rule, including the fact that no similar restriction exists for people convicted of serious crimes.

The petition also argues that the new criterion was added to the section dealing with issuing new eligibility certificates, not to the rules governing lottery participation. On that reading, it should apply only to future applicants, not to people whose certificates were already valid before May 24. The petitioners ask the court to rule that the new condition cannot be used retroactively, or alternatively to create a transition period or a formal hearing process. They say thousands of families are affected, many of whom waited for the state-subsidized housing route instead of buying on the open market. If the petition succeeds, pre-May 24 certificate holders could rejoin upcoming lotteries; if it fails, the current ban will remain in force.