Penal Law: the sections this site discusses

A threat to harm a person’s good name and a publication that harms it are often dealt with together, so protecting your reputation and defamation is examined alongside the criminal track.

What the law provides

Section 192 of the Law prohibits threatening a person with unlawful harm to their body, liberty, property, good name or livelihood, or those of another person, with intent to frighten or annoy them. The courts examine the threat by an objective test: whether such a statement, in all the circumstances, was likely to frighten an ordinary reasonable person, and not only how the specific victim actually felt (CrimA 103/88 Lichtman v. State of Israel). The penalty set by the Law is up to three years’ imprisonment.

Section 415 deals with the offense of “obtaining something by fraud”: obtaining property, a service or another benefit through a statement made in writing, orally or by conduct about the past, the present or the future, when the person making it knows it is untrue or does not believe it is true. The basic penalty is up to three years’ imprisonment, and in aggravating circumstances up to five years. To complete the picture, section 61 of the Law sets the levels of monetary fines that can be imposed as a penalty instead of imprisonment or in addition to it. The Minister of Justice may update the amounts by order according to changes in the index (section 64), so you should check the updated amount at the time of the event.

The wording of the sections as in force today: section 192: “A person who threatens another person in any way with unlawful harm to that person’s body, liberty, property, good name or livelihood, or those of another person, with intent to frighten or annoy that person, is liable to three years’ imprisonment.” Section 415: “A person who obtains something by fraud is liable to three years’ imprisonment, and if the offense was committed in aggravating circumstances, to five years’ imprisonment.” Under the definitions in section 414, “something” means land, movable property, a right and a benefit, and “fraud” means a statement of fact about a matter in the past, the present or the future, made in writing, orally or by conduct, when the person making it knows it is not true or does not believe it is true.

A numerical example

A neighbor sends his neighbor a text message saying that if the neighbor does not stop complaining about noise, “his car will be damaged and he himself will be hurt”. Such a statement may establish the offense of threats under section 192: a threat of harm to property and to the body, with intent to frighten. If the same neighbor also collected NIS 3,000 from the other by falsely claiming that the money was for an “urgent repair to the shared pipes” that was never carried out, the offense of obtaining something by fraud under section 415 is also committed, because he obtained the money on the basis of a false statement of fact that he knew was untrue.

For practical guides on cyberbullying and on misleading advertising, see Cyberbullying: what the law allows you to do against those who harm you and Misleading advertising: what the law says.

The sections the site discusses

This page brings together 3 sections of the Penal Law that are discussed in 3 guides on this site. The title of each section is the marginal note of the consolidated version of the Law (unofficial translation), not a heading we wrote. The last column links to the guides on this site that discuss that section.

The original text of the law

• Penal Law, 5737-1977: text of the Law
• Penal Law: consolidated version on Nevo (Israeli legal database)

FAQ

What is the penalty for the offense of threats under the law?
Up to three years’ imprisonment, subject to examining the threat by an objective test: whether it was likely to frighten an ordinary reasonable person (section 192; the test was set in CrimA 103/88 Lichtman v. State of Israel).

What is the difference between civil deception (misleading) and the offense of obtaining something by fraud?
Obtaining something by fraud (section 415) is a criminal offense that requires actually obtaining property or a benefit on the basis of a false statement of fact that the person making it knew was untrue. It carries up to three years’ imprisonment (up to five years in aggravating circumstances), in addition to the possibility of a separate civil claim.

Who sets the amounts of monetary fines in the Penal Law?
Section 61 of the Law sets levels of fines according to the term of imprisonment set for the offense, and the amounts are updated according to changes in the index by an order of the Minister of Justice (section 64). In the current wording of the Law, for an offense punishable by imprisonment of more than one year and up to three years (such as threats (section 192) and obtaining something by fraud not in aggravating circumstances (section 415)), a fine of up to NIS 75,300 can be imposed, and for an offense punishable by imprisonment of more than three years, up to NIS 226,000 (section 61(a); the Minister of Justice may update the amounts by order according to the index, section 64(a)). Even when only imprisonment is set for an offense, the court may impose imprisonment, a fine or both, but when mandatory imprisonment is set, not a fine alone (section 36).

This page collects the references to legislation on the site. The section headings are the marginal notes as worded in the consolidated text of the law, and are not our interpretation. The binding text is the one published in Sefer HaHukim (the official gazette of statutes). The content here is general information and is not legal advice. Translated: 12 November 2026 · Hebrew version updated: 13 October 2026.