Israel — AI Law & Policy Updates

Israel has no AI-specific statute, according to a direct query of the Knesset's national legislation register on 2026-09-02, which returned no primary law with 'artificial intelligence' in its title. Instead, AI deployers are bound by general laws, including the Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981 (in force since 11 March 1981), the Privacy Protection (Data Security) Regulations, 5777-2017 (published 8 May 2017), the Economic Competition Law, 5748-1988, and biometric-related acts from 2009 and 28 July 2024.

Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981 חוק הגנת הפרטיות · Privacy Protection Data Security Regulations, 5777-2017 תקנות הגנת הפרטיות אבטחת מידע · Economic Competition Law, 5748-1988 חוק התחרות הכלכלית — Status: No AI-specific statute — measured, not assumed 2026-09-02 Israel has no artificial-intelligence act, and that is a measurement rather than an impression: the Knesset's national legislation register was queried directly on 2026-09-02 and returns no primary law in force whose title contains בינה מלאכותית. What binds an AI deployer in Israel is therefore general law. The Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981 has been in force since 11 March 1981 and governs the personal data an AI system is trained on and processes. Underneath it, the Privacy Protection Data Security Regulations, 5777-2017 were published in Reshumot on 8 May 2017 and set the security duties that attach to holding a database — Israel's regulation layer for this subject is real and is secondary legislation, not an AI statute. Biometric processing has its own primary legislation: the 2009 Act on including biometric identifiers in identity documents and a database, and a further Act of 28 July 2024 on taking biometric identifiers from foreign nationals — both in force, and both directly relevant to facial-recognition and identification systems. Competition exposure runs through the Economic Competition Law, 5748-1988, which is the route an algorithmic-pricing or self-preferencing matter would take. ⚠️ One limit, stated plainly: the register is searched by TITLE, so an Israeli instrument that governs AI without naming it in its title would not appear — the claim here is that these named statutes exist and are in force, not that this is an exhaustive inventory of every AI-relevant provision in Israeli law.