Interior Minister: Temporary ID Cards Will Be Issued Without Passport or Driver’s License

Ahead of the upcoming municipal elections, Interior Minister Rabbi Aryeh Deri instructed the clerks to approve every request for a first ID card (teudat zehut) of a 17-year-old – the legal age that one can vote in the municipal elections – or an application for an ID card that was lost or vandalized and the applicant does not have a valid driver’s license or a valid passport.

To date, first-time ID card applicants or ID holders who do not have a driver’s license or a passport have been required to wait a long time before being issued an ID card. This  would have caused many to miss the chance to participle in the elections. As a result, Minister Rabbi Deri instructed the Interior Ministry to issue temporary identity cards on the spot so that residents could fulfill their civic duty.