Australian man now stuck in Israel for the next 8,000 years

Australian man now stuck in Israel until December 31, 9999
Australian man now stuck in Israel until December 31, 9999
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Written by Harry Johnson

Noam Huppert cannot leave the Jewish State for any reason for another 7,978 years unless he pays his Israeli ex-wife $2.4 million in child support.

An Australian man has been barred from leaving Israel till December 31, 9,999, due to a little-known Israeli ‘stay-of-exit’ law.

Noam Huppert cannot leave the Jewish State for any reason for another 7,978 years unless he pays his Israeli ex-wife $2.4 million in child support.

The date was submitted in accordance with the internationally accepted Gregorian calendar.

Huppert’s ban would’ve been significantly shorter if it was given to him in line with Israel’s traditional Hebrew calendar, which states that we are currently in the year 5,782, but the man wouldn’t live to see its end in either case.

Huppert complains that Australian men have been “persecuted by the Israeli justice system only because they were married to Israeli women,” and he’s been effectively “locked” in Israel since 2013, after arriving in the Jewish state in 2012 to reconnect with the two children he had with his former wife.

His Israeli ex-wife brought a case against him to a local religious court, which oversees issues such as marriage, divorce, child custody, and child support in Israel. It issued the Australian man a so-called ‘stay-of-exit’ order over a ‘future debt’ in alimony payments.

According to Israeli law, in the case of a divorce, a father has to cash out 5,000 Israeli shekels (around $1,600) for each of his children until they turn 18.

There could be ‘hundreds’ of foreign citizens affected by the ‘stay-of-exit’ orders in Israel. The exact number is ‘almost impossible to ascertain’ as the subject is taboo in the country.

The United States Department of State informs American citizens going abroad that Israeli courts “actively exercise their authority to bar certain individuals, including nonresidents, from leaving the country until debts or other legal claims against them are resolved.”

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) doesn’t warn its citizens heading to Israel of such matters on its SmartTraveller website.

About the author

Avatar of Harry Johnson

Harry Johnson

Harry Johnson has been the assignment editor for eTurboNews for mroe than 20 years. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is originally from Europe. He enjoys writing and covering the news.

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