Rishon LeZion Municipality Website Not Loading Abroad? How to Pay Arnona and Water

In our check on 23 October 2026, the Rishon LeZion municipality site didn't open from abroad. Neither do the personal area, which shows arnona and water, or CityPay, where arnona and water are paid. Through SuperStableVPN, with an Israeli IP, the site opened. Below is how to pay arnona (municipal property tax) and water, register a tenant, get a Tabu certificate (for the land registry), and what you can do without the website.

Pay Rishon LeZion arnona with an Israeli IP: free for 3 days, no credit card required. After that it's 17 CAD a month (about ₪36), taxes included, and only if you choose to subscribe. You'll need the free OpenVPN app: we send you a configuration file and instructions, you connect and open the municipality's site. There's no separate app of ours to install.

What an owner abroad needs from the municipality

All of this is according to the Rishon LeZion municipality (arnona payment, in Hebrew). The municipality's site keeps out the web archive too, and the latest readable copies of its arnona pages are from 2021, so we leave out discounts and deadlines, and it's worth checking the numbers against your bill before calling.

• Paying arnona. Every two months on the bill, or by standing order. Online on CityPay (arnona payment, in Hebrew) with the details on the bill; the arnona section of the personal area links to the same page.
• The municipality's personal area: you log in with your ID number and a password or a one-time code, which goes to the phone on file or to your email. The email option helps if you no longer keep your Israeli number.
• A standing order from a bank account with the form or an authorisation on your bank's website, institution code 743; the document goes to [email protected] or by fax to 03-9546978. From a credit card, with the online form on CityPay.
• Registering a tenant in or out with the online forms for entering and leaving a property; a tenant is registered with a lease of at least 12 months. You attach the tenant's ID document (ID card, driving licence or Israeli passport), the current water-meter reading and the phone numbers of tenants and owners (Rishon LeZion, in Hebrew).
• A Tabu certificate by appointment through myvisit or with an online form; you need ID copies for both sides, the water-meter reading, a land registry extract and, if relevant, a power of attorney. Questions about its status go to [email protected].
• Bills by email instead of paper, by registering on CityPay.

Water: Meniv Rishon

Rishon LeZion's water comes from the Meniv Rishon water corporation (מניב ראשון). Its site doesn't open from abroad either. You can pay the water bill online on CityPay (water payment, in Hebrew). When occupants change, the water account is moved separately from arnona, through Meniv Rishon, in writing or at the service centre. The municipality listed a WhatsApp number for the water corporation: +972-54-2685297.

What you can do without the website

From public sources — Rishon LeZion municipality arnona payments (in Hebrew), Rishon LeZion municipality English page, Rishon LeZion municipality WhatsApp list (in Hebrew):

• The automated card-payment line: 1-800-25-25-07. 1-800 numbers usually can't be dialled from abroad, so this route is more for relatives in Israel.
• The collection call centre: 03-9487500, for card payments. The municipality's English page writes it in international form, 972-3-9487500, so from abroad dial +972-3-9487500 (English page).
• The municipality's WhatsApp for residents' enquiries: +972-3-9542799; the water corporation's number is above (WhatsApp list, in Hebrew). The list is from 2021; the municipality's site still has a "WhatsApp enquiry" section.
• Email for standing orders: [email protected]; for Tabu certificates: [email protected].
• Fax for the standing orders unit: 03-9546978, from abroad +972-3-9546978.
• Refund of an arnona overpayment: send a copy of a cheque or your bank details and your ID to [email protected], or fax them to 03-9547215 (from abroad +972-3-9547215).

How to get in with an Israeli IP

1. Sign up for SuperStableVPN: 3 days free, no credit card required. Install the free OpenVPN client on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android or Linux and import the configuration file we send you (setup).
2. Connect and check that an IP-lookup site shows Israel.
3. Open rishonlezion.muni.il or the CityPay payment page. If the page opens, the connection is sorted.

Ours is a static IP from a range of Israeli residential addresses. Sites flag such addresses less often than a regular VPN's datacenter ones, though no site promises to accept them (residential IP vs a regular VPN).

What a VPN doesn't fix

• Your foreign card is refused. That's down to the payment system and your bank, not your IP.
• SMS codes. To receive SMS codes you will also need an Israeli phone number; the municipality's personal-area code can also go to your email. See SMS codes from Israel abroad.
• Things done in person: the Tabu appointment, moving the water account at the service centre.
• Other cities: Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, Beersheba; which other sites are closed from abroad is in the table from our check.