The Tel Aviv District Court, which is hearing the lawsuit filed by Ayala Ben-Gvir, wife of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, against WhatsApp, dismissed the protest by the operator of the instant messaging application of the same name, which claimed that it does not conduct commercial activities in Israel.
Judge Ilan Dapadi ordered WhatsApp to pay NIS 10,000 in court costs. He also ordered the company to provide an answer within 30 days why it still does not have a registered address in Israel, to which statements of claim can be served, as required by law.
The reason for the lawsuit was the decision of WhatsApp in May 2021 to block Ayala Ben-Gvir’s access to the application without explanation. In July, the company, also without explanation, lifted the block, but by that time a lawsuit for half a million shekels had already been filed against it.
Note that this is not the first attempt by WhatsApp to evade the lawsuit. The company had previously tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that it had not been translated into English. Then the company was charged with legal costs in the amount of 12.5 thousand shekels.