Media Centre
War and the Workplace – Further Updates
23 June 2025
We are continuing to monitor the evolving security situation and wish to update you on its implications for workplace operations, including the current Home Front Command’s guidelines.
As per the latest update, the current Home Front Command guidelines remain in effect until Tuesday evening, June 24, 2025 at 20:00, and permit operations at workplaces defined as “essential”.
We wish to emphasize that such activities are only permitted under specific conditions. They must either be conducted within an “Essential Enterprise” – a workplace that has received a formal approval from the Ministry of Labour under the Emergency Employment Service Law, 1967, or fall under the category of the “Essential Economy“. The latter includes producers, service providers, manufacturers, suppliers, and operations deemed critical for maintaining the population, supporting the war effort, or sustaining the national economy (which may also be ‘Essential Enterprises’), as defined by the relevant government ministries, or authorized bodies within the Emergency Supply System, as part of the ‘Essential Economy’.”
Workplaces that fall under this definition and are included within the “Essential Economy” may continue operating, even without formal Ministry of Labour approval, provided they comply with the Home Front Command’s defense policy, as periodically updated.
The responsibility for determining whether a workplace falls within the definition of the “Essential Economy” lies with the business itself. The National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) has published a document listing various sectors and industries defined as part of the “Essential Economy”, including energy, communications, the financial sector, agriculture, transportation, food, beverages and hygiene products, construction and housing, healthcare, environmental protection, support services, and others.
Click here for the full National Emergency Management Authority document (in Hebrew).
This document permits workplaces that fall within the definition of the “Essential Economy” to continue operating even in the absence of formal approval that they are an “Essential Enterprise”, provided they abide by the various limitations set out in the National Emergency Management Authority document and, as stated, subject to the Home Front Command’s defense policy.
In this context, it is important to ensure that there is a genuine and direct connection between the workplace’s activities and the objectives underlying the definition of “Essential Economy”.
Workplaces that wish to check whether they meet the definition of “Essential Economy” and examine the implications of such a finding for the nature of their activities, are invited to reach out to us for individualized advice.
