In June 2010, a Jerusalem resident left with his wife and two sons for Jordan en route to Mecca to perform the rite of al-umrah. They returned to Israel eleven days later. Towards the end of 2010, the father discovered that payments of child benefit by the National Insurance Institute (NII) for his sons had been terminated due to their departure from Israel. Furthermore, a notice he received from the NII informed that following the termination decision, the NII found he had received child benefit payments to which he was not entitled under the NII Law; therefore he was requested to arrive at a local NII branch to make a payment arrangement to settle his debt.
Thereupon, the father and sons went to the Jerusalem office of the Population Immigration and Border Authority
, to have the date of their return to Israel. The clerk refused his request, and instead entered the date they appeared before him, December, 27, 2010 as their return date. The father repeatedly explained that his sons returned back in June with him and their mother, but to no avail. As a result, the NII resumed its payments starting from the date entered by the clerk.
In March 2011,
HaMoked requested the Interior Ministry to correct the date of the children's return to Israel so as to prevent injury to their rights. HaMoked also inquired the reason for the Population Immigration and Border Authority clerk's refusal to enter the date of the children's return as requested, and the basis for his decision to enter the date of their appearance before him as the date of return. This letter was transferred to the Population Immigration and Border Authority in Jerusalem to ascertain the details of the boys' departure and return.
In April, the Population Immigration and Border Authority notified, as expected, that the children's return date was updated to June 2010, matching that of the parents. In a letter to the NII, HaMoked supplied the updated details, and demanded it to pay back the benefit of which the couple was deprived, and to cancel the debt in their name. That same day, the NII announced the debt would be cancelled, and all benefit payments owed to the family rightfully paid.
