The problem began when her employer, the Ministry of Education, had mistakenly went on paying her salary three months after she stopped working. Although she repaid the ministry for the salaries she had received by mistake, the ministry failed to report to the National Insurance Institute (NII) that she was not working. The error affected several of her rights at once, including alimony and unemployment benefits during the war with Iran (between February 28 to April 8, 2026). All this happened while she was going through a high-risk pregnancy.
MAAN’s Jerusalem office helped correct her employment records and accompanied her through several NII procedures simultaneously. We worked to restore her alimony benefits, obtain unemployment benefits, secure a pregnancy preservation allowance, and establish her residency in Jerusalem by proving it was the center of her life, as well as her eligibility for benefits. MAAN also helped arrange her registration at Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital to give birth and coordinated the childbirth grant with the NII.
The result was: NIS 4,210 in reinstated alimony benefits, NIS 32,185 in pregnancy preservation allowance, and unemployment benefits of up to approximately NIS 26,000 — more than NIS 60,000 altogether.
Shaimaa’s success is relevant to many others: workers whose income or employment has been incorrectly reported, divorced mothers dependent on benefits, workers who lost income during emergency periods, women in high-risk pregnancies, and East Jerusalem residents struggling with complicated NII procedures.
On September 13, Shaimaa gave birth at Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital. The next day she called MAAN and said that the hospital staff had been “professional and caring”, and thanked MAAN “with all my heart” for the assistance she had received.
