| name | israeli-accessibility-compliance |
| description | Implement Israeli web accessibility compliance per IS 5568 standard, anchored to WCAG 2.0 AA (IS 5568 adds some 2.1-aligned criteria; sources differ), for Hebrew RTL applications. Use when user asks about Israeli accessibility law, "negishot" (accessibility), IS 5568, "teken negishot" (accessibility standard), "nachim" (disabilities), Hebrew screen reader support, RTL ARIA patterns, or accessibility audit for Israeli websites. Covers mandatory legal requirements under the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Act, who is exempt, enforcement and penalties, the accessibility coordinator role, Hebrew screen reader compatibility (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver), and RTL-specific ARIA patterns. Do NOT use for general WCAG guidance without Israeli context (use standard a11y resources instead). |
| license | MIT |
| allowed-tools | Bash(python:*) Bash(pip:*) |
| compatibility | Works with any web framework. Python 3.9+ for audit script. No network required for core patterns. axe-core for automated testing. |
Israeli Accessibility Compliance
Instructions
Step 1: Understand the Legal Framework
Israeli web accessibility (negishot) is legally mandatory under the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Act (Chok Shivyon Zechuyot Le'Anashim Im Mugbaluyot), 1998 and the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities (Service Accessibility Accommodations) Regulations, 2013 (Takanot Negishut LeSherut).
| Regulation | Requirement | Status | Penalty |
|---|
| IS 5568 (2017, updated 2020 and 2023) | Israeli accessibility standard, anchored to WCAG 2.0 AA | New websites accessible from 25 October 2015; existing websites by 26 October 2017; the October 2020 date extended the lower-revenue exemption tiers, not the universal deadline | Up to 50,000 NIS statutory civil damages per violation, without proof of harm |
| Takanat Negishut LeSherut (2013) | Public websites and apps must comply | In effect; covers services provided to the public | Lawsuits + statutory damages |
| Mobile applications | Included in scope per the 2013 regulations; explicitly reaffirmed in later updates | In effect | Same statutory damages |
| Government sites | Must meet IS 5568 Level AA | In effect | Commission oversight + administrative penalty |
Note on WCAG version. The statute and regulations reference IS 5568. The dominant reading is that IS 5568, including the September 2023 Part 1 edition, stays legally anchored to WCAG 2.0 AA, with WCAG 2.1 alignment being partial or vendor-claimed rather than the legal baseline. Some sources describe IS 5568:2020 as WCAG 2.1 AA, so sources differ. The safe working target is WCAG 2.0 AA plus the Israeli-specific additions below; meeting WCAG 2.1 (and 2.2) criteria on top of that is useful future-proofing but is not the floor the law sets.
Who must comply: All public-facing Israeli websites and mobile applications of service providers open to the public, including government agencies, educational institutions, healthcare providers, businesses, and non-profits.
Standard conformance is necessary but not sufficient. The legal duty is the regulation (Service Accessibility Regulations 2013), which incorporates IS 5568 Part 1 by reference at level AA. You can pass an automated WCAG / IS 5568 audit and still be non-compliant if you lack the accessibility statement, the coordinator (where required), a feedback channel, or the certified-expert opinion described below, and vice versa. Treat "meets IS 5568" and "legally compliant" as two separate checklists.
Certified accessibility expert (Morshe Negishut Hasherut). Where an operator claims an exemption for "technological difficulty" under Regulation 35, the regulation requires a written opinion from a certified service-accessibility expert (morshe negishut hasherut) prepared in consultation with an internet-accessibility professional. In practice the accessibility statement and the audit behind it are also expected to be backed by a morshe negishut; compliance is not a pure developer/automated-audit exercise.
Digital documents (IS 5568 Part 2). IS 5568 is split into Part 1 (web content) and Part 2 (accessibility of digital documents, e.g. PDFs and Office files), published 2020. PDFs and downloadable documents on a public-facing Israeli site fall under the accessibility duty and are one of the most common real-world audit failures, so do not stop at the HTML.
Step 2: Who Is Exempt
The Service Accessibility Regulations base website-accessibility exemptions on revenue, not on employee count. There is no "25 employees" or "300,000 NIS" trigger in the regulations. The exemption tiers are:
| Operator | Exemption |
|---|
| Osek patur (VAT-exempt dealer) | Full exemption from website accessibility |
| Average annual revenue under the small-business threshold (sources differ: some cite 100,000 NIS, others 120,000 NIS; confirm against the current regulation before relying on it) | Temporary 3-year exemption, renewable every 3 years while average revenue stays at or below that threshold |
| Average annual revenue from that threshold up to 1,000,000 NIS | 3-year exemption for an existing site whose operation began before 26 October 2017; a new site built after that date must be accessible |
| Average annual revenue above 1,000,000 NIS | No automatic exemption. The operator must apply to the Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities to claim a heavy-burden exemption |
These exemptions (except the heavy-burden application) are automatic and need no approval, but the operator must re-check their revenue every 3 years. The exact small-business threshold figure is contested between sources, so a borderline operator should verify against the regulation text or the Commission rather than self-certify as exempt. Exemption from website accessibility does not exempt the operator from other service-accessibility duties, nor from the separate physical-premises accessibility duty (negishut hamivne), which is governed by its own regulations.
Step 3: Enforcement and Penalties
Two enforcement tracks run in parallel:
- Civil lawsuit. A claimant can sue for up to 50,000 NIS in statutory damages without proof of harm, only needing to show the site is non-compliant. 60-day cure period: a deviation is not treated as a violation unless the operator was first sent a notice demanding a fix and failed to fix it within a reasonable time, no later than 60 days from receiving the notice. A class-action request for an inaccessible site has no cause of action if no prior fix notice was sent. This is a real defense for operators.
- Administrative enforcement by the Commission. Amendment 23 to the Equal Rights Act gave the Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities an administrative track: warnings, commitments, accessibility orders, and an administrative monetary penalty (izum kaspi). The penalty amount is scaled by the operator's size (micro business up to 2,000,000 NIS turnover, small business up to 20,000,000 NIS, regular business above that or a public authority) and by the cost of the specific accommodation, with a per-day charge while a violation continues. Reductions apply for a clean prior record and for corrective action. This penalty is separate from and on top of the 50,000 NIS civil damages.
Filing a complaint (user side). A user who hits an inaccessible site sends the operator a fix notice (which starts the 60-day clock); if it is not fixed in time, the user can complain to the Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities or sue for the statutory damages. The operator's accessibility coordinator (Step 4) is the first point of contact for such complaints, so an operator should route incoming accessibility complaints through the coordinator and act within the cure window.
Step 4: The Accessibility Coordinator (Rakaz Negishut)
The Service Accessibility Regulations require a service provider that is a public body, or that employs 25 or more employees, to appoint one of its staff as an accessibility coordinator (rakaz negishut). Note this 25-employee figure is the trigger for the coordinator appointment, not for the website-accessibility duty itself, which is universal subject to the revenue exemptions above. The coordinator:
- Gives the public information about the accessibility arrangements of the provider's assets and services.
- Handles accessibility inquiries and complaints from the public.
- Helps the parties responsible for accessibility carry out and maintain the required accommodations.
The coordinator's name and contact details must appear in the accessibility statement (see Step 9).
Step 5: IS 5568 vs WCAG -- Key Differences
IS 5568 is anchored to WCAG 2.0 AA (sources differ on whether the current edition reaches 2.1) and adds Israeli-specific requirements:
| Area | WCAG 2.0 AA | IS 5568 Addition |
|---|
| Language | Declare lang attribute | Must support lang="he" with RTL |
| Text direction | Not specified | Must declare dir="rtl" for Hebrew content |
| Contrast | 4.5:1 for text | Same, plus contrast check with Hebrew fonts |
| Form labels | Associated labels | Labels must support RTL alignment |
| Error messages | Descriptive errors | Must be in Hebrew for Hebrew sites |
| Accessibility statement | Recommended | Mandatory (Hatzaharat Negishot) |
| Contact info | Not required | Must provide accessibility contact method |
| Bilingual public bodies | Not specified | A government or public body that serves the public in Hebrew and Arabic should make its content accessible in both languages, not Hebrew only |
Step 6: Set Up Accessible RTL HTML Structure
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="he" dir="rtl">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>שם האתר - כותרת הדף</title>
</head>
<body>
<a href="#main-content" class="skip-link">דלג לתוכן הראשי</a>
<header role="banner">
<nav role="navigation" aria-label="ניווט ראשי">
</nav>
</header>
<main id="main-content" role="main">
</main>
<footer role="contentinfo">
<a href="/accessibility-statement">הצהרת נגישות</a>
</footer>
</body>
</html>
Key IS 5568 requirements in this structure:
lang="he" and dir="rtl" on the html element- Skip navigation link in Hebrew ("דלג לתוכן הראשי")
- ARIA roles for landmarks
- Hebrew ARIA labels for navigation
- Link to accessibility statement (Hatzaharat Negishot) in footer
Step 7: Hebrew Screen Reader Compatibility
Test with these screen readers commonly used in Israel:
| Screen Reader | Platform | Hebrew Support | Testing Notes |
|---|
| NVDA | Windows | Excellent with eSpeak-ng Hebrew | Free, most common in Israel |
| JAWS | Windows | Good with Eloquence Hebrew | Commercial, institutional use |
| VoiceOver | macOS/iOS | Good native Hebrew TTS | Built-in, growing adoption |
| TalkBack | Android | Good with Google TTS Hebrew | Built-in on Android devices |
Hebrew-specific screen reader patterns:
<p dir="rtl" lang="he">
טקסט בעברית עם <span dir="ltr" lang="en">English text</span> משולב
</p>
<button aria-label="סגור חלון">X</button>
<input type="search" aria-label="חיפוש באתר" placeholder="חפש...">
<div aria-live="polite" aria-atomic="true" dir="rtl">
הטופס נשלח בהצלחה
</div>
Step 8: RTL-Specific ARIA Patterns
<form dir="rtl" novalidate>
<div role="group" aria-labelledby="personal-info">
<h2 id="personal-info">פרטים אישיים</h2>
<label for="full-name">שם מלא</label>
<input id="full-name" type="text" required
aria-required="true"
aria-describedby="name-error"
aria-invalid="false">
<span id="name-error" role="alert" class="error" hidden>
נא למלא שם מלא
</span>
<label for="teudat-zehut">תעודת זהות</label>
<input id="teudat-zehut" type="text" pattern="[0-9]{9}"
inputmode="numeric" dir="ltr"
aria-required="true"
aria-describedby="tz-help tz-error">
<span id="tz-help" class="hint">9 ספרות</span>
<span id="tz-error" role="alert" class="error" hidden>
מספר תעודת זהות לא תקין
</span>
</div>
</form>
<table dir="rtl">
<caption>סיכום הזמנות</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th scope="col">מספר הזמנה</th>
<th scope="col">תאריך</th>
<th scope="col">סכום</th>
<th scope="col">סטטוס</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td dir="ltr">ORD-12345</td>
<td>04/03/2026</td>
<td dir="ltr">1,234.50 ₪</td>
<td>הושלם</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Step 9: Accessibility Statement (Hatzaharat Negishot)
IS 5568 requires a published accessibility statement. Required content:
<article dir="rtl" lang="he">
<h1>הצהרת נגישות</h1>
<p>אנו ב-[שם החברה] מחויבים להנגשת האתר לאנשים עם מוגבלויות
בהתאם לתקן הישראלי IS 5568, המעוגן ב-WCAG 2.0 ברמה AA.</p>
<h2>אמצעי נגישות באתר</h2>
<ul>
<li>האתר תומך בניווט מלא באמצעות מקלדת</li>
<li>האתר תומך בקוראי מסך (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver)</li>
<li>תמונות מלוות בטקסט חלופי</li>
<li>ניגודיות צבעים עומדת ביחס 4.5:1 לפחות</li>
</ul>
<h2>מגבלות נגישות ידועות</h2>
<ul>
<li>[פרטו כאן רכיבים, דפים או מסמכים שטרם הונגשו במלואם, אם יש, ואת מועד התיקון הצפוי. אם אין מגבלות ידועות, ציינו זאת במפורש]</li>
</ul>
<h2>פנייה בנושא נגישות</h2>
<p>רכז/ת נגישות: [שם]</p>
<p>טלפון: <a href="tel:+97212345678" dir="ltr">+972-1-234-5678</a></p>
<p>דוא"ל: <a href="mailto:negishot@example.co.il">negishot@example.co.il</a></p>
<p>תאריך ביקורת הנגישות האחרונה: [תאריך]</p>
<p>תאריך עדכון ההצהרה: [תאריך]</p>
</article>
The full required-content list (7 items, including known limitations and the audit date) is in references/is-5568.md. A statement that omits known limitations or the audit date is a common audit finding.
Step 10: Automated Accessibility Testing
See scripts/audit_a11y.py for the full audit pipeline.
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
def run_accessibility_audit(url):
options = Options()
options.add_argument('--headless')
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
driver.get(url)
axe_script = open('axe.min.js').read()
driver.execute_script(axe_script)
results = driver.execute_script("""
return axe.run({
rules: {
'html-has-lang': { enabled: true },
'valid-lang': { enabled: true },
'document-title': { enabled: true },
'bypass': { enabled: true },
'color-contrast': { enabled: true },
'label': { enabled: true },
'image-alt': { enabled: true }
}
});
""")
driver.quit()
return results
IS 5568 compliance checklist (automated + manual):
| Check | Automated | Tool |
|---|
lang="he" present | Yes | axe-core |
dir="rtl" present | Yes | Custom rule |
| Color contrast 4.5:1 | Yes | axe-core |
| All images have alt text | Yes | axe-core |
| Form inputs have labels | Yes | axe-core |
| Skip navigation link | Yes | axe-core |
| Keyboard navigation | Manual | Tab-through test |
| Screen reader compatibility | Manual | NVDA/VoiceOver test |
| Hebrew error messages | Manual | Visual inspection |
| Accessibility statement | Manual | Page existence check |
See references/is-5568.md for the complete checklist mapped to IS 5568 clauses.
Recommended MCP Servers
No relevant MCP server applies to Israeli accessibility compliance. The skills-il MCP directory has no accessibility, IS 5568, or WCAG-auditing MCP at this time. The audit in this skill runs as a local Python script (scripts/audit_a11y.py), not through an MCP. If an accessibility-audit MCP is added to the directory later, prefer it for live-site scanning and keep the script for offline checks.
Examples
Example 1: Audit Existing Israeli Website
User says: "Check if my website meets Israeli accessibility standards"
Result: Run scripts/audit_a11y.py against the URL, check for IS 5568 requirements including Hebrew lang attribute, RTL direction, contrast ratios, ARIA labels in Hebrew, skip navigation, and accessibility statement page. Generate a compliance report with pass/fail per criterion.
Example 2: Add Accessibility Statement Page
User says: "I need to add an accessibility page to comply with Israeli law"
Result: Create a Hebrew accessibility statement (Hatzaharat Negishot) page with all legally required sections: compliance level, accessibility features, known limitations, contact information for the accessibility coordinator (rakaz negishot), and last update date.
Example 3: Fix RTL Form Accessibility
User says: "Screen readers are not reading my Hebrew form correctly"
Result: Add dir="rtl" to the form element, ensure all labels are associated with inputs and use Hebrew text, add aria-required="true" for mandatory fields, provide Hebrew error messages with role="alert", and set dir="ltr" on numeric inputs like phone and ID number fields.
Example 4: Make Hebrew Data Table Accessible
User says: "My Hebrew table is not accessible to screen readers"
Result: Add dir="rtl" to the table element, include a Hebrew caption, use scope="col" and scope="row" on header cells, mark LTR content like order numbers with dir="ltr", and ensure logical reading order matches visual RTL order.
Bundled Resources
Scripts
scripts/audit_a11y.py -- Run IS 5568 accessibility audit: automated checks for Hebrew lang attribute, RTL direction, ARIA labels, contrast ratios, and skip navigation using axe-core and selenium. Generates compliance report with pass/fail per IS 5568 clause. Run: python scripts/audit_a11y.py --help
References
references/is-5568.md -- Complete IS 5568 standard reference: clause-by-clause requirements mapped to WCAG 2.0 AA, Israeli-specific additions, exemption tiers, the two-track enforcement model (civil damages + Commission administrative penalty) with the 60-day cure period, the accessibility coordinator role, mandatory accessibility statement template, and checklist for compliance audits.references/widget-implementation.md -- Copy-pasteable TypeScript/React code for a Regulation 35 accessibility preferences widget: pub-sub prefs store with useSyncExternalStore, class-based CSS toggles, FOUC bootstrap script, Alt+A keyboard shortcut (layout-independent via e.code), framer-motion MotionConfig wiring, and counter-invert rules. Consult when the user wants to ship the widget surface itself, not just audit compliance.
Building a Compliant Accessibility Preferences Widget
Regulation 35 and IS 5568 require Israeli consumer-facing sites to expose an accessibility control surface that users can operate with the keyboard, typically a floating widget with toggles for contrast, text size, line spacing, cursor, and motion. This widget is a user-preference comfort tool, not an automation overlay. The difference is legally and financially significant: the FTC fined accessiBe $1M in April 2025 for misleading claims that its overlay auto-remediated sites (it didn't). The widget you ship must do only what the user asks it to do.
Feature Set
A minimum-viable Regulation 35 widget exposes these toggles:
| Toggle | Type | Values |
|---|
| Highlight links | Binary | on / off |
| Contrast mode | Cycle | off / high / invert / monochrome |
| Text size | Cycle | 100% / 115% / 130% / 150% |
| Line spacing | Cycle | normal / 1.6 / 2.0 |
| Readable font | Binary | on / off (OS stack only, no webfont) |
| Highlight headings | Binary | on / off |
| Black cursor | Binary | on / off |
| Large cursor | Binary | on / off |
| Stop animations | Binary | on / off |
| Reset | Action | clears all preferences |
Architecture
Three parts: a preferences store, a UI panel, and a CSS layer.
-
Preferences store. A pub-sub store (subscribe / getSnapshot / getServerSnapshot / set / reset) consumed by React via useSyncExternalStore. State is persisted to localStorage under a versioned key (e.g., site_a11y_prefs_v1). Version mismatches invalidate stored state so schema bumps do not leave stale fields around. Pre-populate the in-memory cache on notify() so subscriber fan-out does not trigger redundant localStorage reads.
-
UI panel. A floating trigger button (fixed bottom-6 start-6 z-40, RTL-aware via CSS logical properties) opens a Radix Sheet containing a 3-column grid of toggle cards plus a Reset action. The trigger carries aria-expanded, aria-controls, and aria-keyshortcuts="Alt+A".
-
CSS layer. Every visual change is driven by CSS classes on <html> (for example a11y-contrast-high, a11y-text-150, a11y-lines-20, a11y-reduce-motion). The widget never mutates content DOM. It does not inject alt text, reorder nodes, or rewrite ARIA. That is the line that separates a compliant user-preference tool from a banned overlay.
Single-Source Class Rules
The class list applied at runtime must be identical to the one applied by the FOUC bootstrap script (below), or users see a flash of unstyled preferences on every page load. Define the mapping once and generate both the runtime applyPrefsToElement() function and the bootstrap <script> body from the same table:
const CLASS_RULES = [
['a11y-links', (p) => p.links, '!!p.links'],
['a11y-contrast-high', (p) => p.contrast === 'high', "p.contrast==='high'"],
['a11y-contrast-invert', (p) => p.contrast === 'invert', "p.contrast==='invert'"],
['a11y-contrast-mono', (p) => p.contrast === 'mono', "p.contrast==='mono'"],
['a11y-text-115', (p) => p.textSize === 115, 'p.textSize===115'],
['a11y-text-130', (p) => p.textSize === 130, 'p.textSize===130'],
['a11y-text-150', (p) => p.textSize === 150, 'p.textSize===150'],
] as const;
FOUC Prevention
Preferences live in localStorage, which means the first paint happens at default styling and only after React hydrates does the widget re-apply the user's settings. That flash is unacceptable for users who rely on high contrast or 150% text. Fix it with an inline <script> in <head> that runs synchronously before React hydrates:
export const A11Y_BOOTSTRAP_SCRIPT =
`(function(){try{var raw=localStorage.getItem('site_a11y_prefs_v1');` +
`if(!raw)return;var p=JSON.parse(raw);if(p.version!==1)return;` +
`var c=document.documentElement.classList;` +
CLASS_RULES.map(([cls,,js]) => `c.toggle(${JSON.stringify(cls)},${js})`).join(';') +
`}catch(e){}})()`;
In your root layout:
<head>
<script dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: A11Y_BOOTSTRAP_SCRIPT }} />
</head>
Keep a useEffect safety net in the widget component that re-applies classes after mount. If localStorage is blocked (private browsing, quota exceeded), the bootstrap silently returns and the safety net covers the case.
Keyboard Shortcut: Use e.code, Not e.key
Regulation 35 requires the widget to be reachable from any focus context. Alt+A is the industry default. Detect it via e.code, not e.key:
if (e.altKey && !e.ctrlKey && !e.metaKey && !e.shiftKey && e.code === 'KeyA') {
e.preventDefault();
togglePanel();
}
On macOS, Alt+A produces the dead-key å for e.key, which fails the intuitive e.key === 'a' check. e.code is the physical key position and is layout-independent across macOS, Windows, and Linux.
ARIA Correctness
- Binary toggles (links highlight, readable font, cursor, motion, headings): use
aria-pressed={active}.
- Cycling toggles (contrast, text size, line spacing): omit
aria-pressed. Reading "pressed" aloud is misleading when the control has more than two states. The accessible name itself should carry the current value: aria-label={"${label}: ${valueLabel}"}.
- Live region announcing state changes: use
role="status" aria-live="polite" and render it outside the Sheet portal. Portals unmount when the Sheet closes; a live region inside the portal loses late-arriving announcements.
framer-motion / Reduced Motion
If the app uses framer-motion, wrap the tree in a <MotionConfig> that mirrors the Stop Animations toggle:
<MotionConfig reducedMotion={prefs.reduceMotion ? 'always' : 'user'}>
'always' forces reduced motion when the widget toggle is on. 'user' falls back to the OS prefers-reduced-motion media query when the toggle is off, so system-level requests are still honored.
Counter-Invert the Widget
If the user enables invert or monochrome contrast, the whole page is filtered. The widget itself must be counter-inverted so the user can still read it to turn the setting off:
html.a11y-contrast-invert #a11y-widget-panel,
html.a11y-contrast-invert #a11y-widget-trigger {
filter: invert(1) hue-rotate(180deg);
}
Forget this and users end up with an unreadable widget they cannot deactivate.
Print Rule
Reset every a11y-* class in print context so high-contrast filters and inverted colors do not follow the user to paper:
@media print {
html[class*="a11y-"] { filter: none !important; }
html[class*="a11y-text-"] { font-size: 100% !important; }
html[class*="a11y-lines-"] { line-height: normal !important; }
}
See references/widget-implementation.md for complete copy-pasteable code covering the pub-sub store, the FOUC bootstrap, the React component with the ToggleCard grid, the MotionA11yProvider, and the CSS class reference table.
Avoiding Overlay Anti-Patterns
Accessibility overlay products (accessiBe, UserWay, AudioEye) claim to make sites compliant by injecting JavaScript that auto-generates alt text, rewrites ARIA, and fixes inaccessible markup at runtime. Disability advocates and US regulators have documented that overlay-protected sites still fail screen-reader testing. In April 2025 the FTC fined accessiBe $1M and ordered ongoing compliance monitoring for misleading advertising about its overlay's capabilities.
The Israeli Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities has not endorsed any overlay product. IS 5568 compliance is evaluated against the site's actual rendered HTML, not against claims made by a plug-in.
When building the widget above, enforce these scope fences:
| Do | Do NOT |
|---|
Toggle CSS classes on <html> | Mutate content DOM, rewrite alt attributes, or inject ARIA |
| Provide user-controlled preferences (contrast, text size, motion) | Claim the widget alone makes the site "IS 5568 compliant" or "WCAG compliant" |
| Document scope as a comfort tool in the accessibility statement | Display a certification badge or "audited by" claim sourced from a vendor plug-in |
| Use OS font stacks for the readable-font toggle | Inject a webfont that changes rendered text width and re-flows past critical content |
Persist preferences to localStorage and a cookie you control | Use third-party overlay SDKs that fingerprint users or apply tracking cookies as a side effect |
The widget is one layer of compliance. The other layers, semantic HTML, correct dir and lang, keyboard operability, real screen-reader testing, proper form labels, working focus management, the accessibility statement page (Hatzaharat Negishot), and a named accessibility coordinator, all have to be built into the site itself. No widget substitutes for that work.
Gotchas
- Israeli accessibility law (IS 5568) is anchored to WCAG 2.0 AA (sources differ on whether the current edition reaches 2.1), and adds Israeli-specific requirements on top, including the bilingual-content expectation for public bodies that serve the public in Hebrew and Arabic (see Step 5). Agents may apply only WCAG without the Israeli additions.
- Agents may copy a stale "businesses with 25+ employees or 300,000 NIS revenue must comply" rule. That figure is not in the regulations. The website-accessibility duty is universal for public-facing services, subject to revenue-based exemptions (see Step 2, Who Is Exempt). The 25-employee number is the trigger for appointing an accessibility coordinator, a separate duty.
- Agents may skip the 60-day cure period. A non-compliant operator must first receive a fix notice and be given up to 60 days before a suit or class-action request has a cause of action (see Step 3).
- Screen readers for Hebrew (NVDA, JAWS) read RTL text differently than LTR. Agents may generate ARIA labels assuming LTR reading order, which confuses Hebrew screen reader users.
- Israeli law requires accessibility statements (hatzaharat negishut) to be published on every website. Agents may generate WCAG-compliant sites without this mandatory statement page.
- Color contrast requirements in IS 5568 match WCAG (4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text), but agents may not account for Hebrew font rendering, which can appear thinner than Latin fonts at the same size, requiring slightly higher contrast.
Reference Links
Troubleshooting
Error: "Screen reader announces content in wrong order"
Cause: Visual RTL order does not match DOM order, or missing dir attribute
Solution: Ensure the DOM source order matches the intended reading order for RTL. Add dir="rtl" to container elements. Use CSS logical properties for layout instead of physical positioning that may conflict with reading order.
Error: "Hebrew form validation messages not announced"
Cause: Error messages not using ARIA live regions or alert role
Solution: Add role="alert" to error message containers and ensure they are populated dynamically after validation. Use aria-describedby to link error messages to their input fields. Error text must be in Hebrew for Hebrew forms.
Error: "Skip navigation link not working in RTL layout"
Cause: Skip link positioned off-screen using physical CSS (left: -9999px)
Solution: Use inset-inline-start: -9999px instead of left: -9999px for the skip link. Ensure the target element has id and tabindex="-1" for focus management. Test that the skip link is the first focusable element in tab order.
