As a young and evolving democracy, Israel is faced with an aging population. Many major issues related to this aging population have been extensively reviewed except for the issue of elder abuse and neglect. This article considers how the law addresses the abuse and neglect of elders in Israel and exposes broader legal issues affecting this area. The article begins by discussing the problem of elder abuse and neglect in concrete terms as an Israeli phenomenon. The article then discusses the development of Israeli law in connection with this phenomenon. The article concludes with an analysis of the state of the law in Israel and the dilemmas it currently faces. Israeli law has made considerable progress in its attempts to contend with the issue of elder abuse and neglect. Israeli legislation has progressed to such a point that when the law encounters a case of an older person being abused, the question is not whether there is a law that allows the state to intervene, but which of the many existing laws is most appropriate to the case in question. Table, references