How can a spouse divorce in Israel when the other spouse has disappeared and cannot be located?

The Family Court will not refuse to hear a case simply because the respondent cannot be found. Once a process server files an affidavit describing genuine attempts at personal delivery, the court can authorise substituted service by publication, email, messaging app or delivery to an adult relative, and can then give judgment in the respondent's absence. That judgment binds assets located in Israel and supports maintenance enforcement through the Execution Office. What it cannot do is end a Jewish marriage, because jurisdiction over marriage and divorce for Jews sits exclusively with the Rabbinical Courts under the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law 5713-1953.

The Rabbinical Court treats a disappearance as an evidentiary problem rather than a procedural one. It opens an inquiry, publishes notices, examines witnesses and checks military, hospital and border records before ruling that a spouse is presumed dead, and only then may the survivor remarry. These files routinely run for years and the standard of proof is deliberately high. Diaspora spouses should file in Israel early, gather documentary evidence of the disappearance while it still exists, and take parallel advice on agunah remedies and get refusal, because the civil and religious tracks run on separate timetables.

From the full guide: Get Refusal in Israel: Rights and Remedies When a Spouse Refuses a Jewish Divorce

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