20 August 2007
The Israeli government and representatives of Holocaust survivors have reached a deal on a special allowance for Israeli citizens who lived through the Nazi genocide. The agreement follows weeks of criticism that the government of prime minister Ehud Olmert had abandoned the 240,000 Shoah survivors who live in Israel. The deal will guarantee Israelis who survived the Nazi ghettos and concentration camps a monthly stipend of U$ 284, according to a statement from Olmert’s office. In addition, survivors will receive tax discounts and other benefits calculated according to their income, with the amount set aside for them slated to go up over the next few years.
The new agreement replaces a government proposal to offer survivors a stipend of only US$ 20 a month, a sum that drew bitter public condemnation and a protest by 500 elderly survivors and their supporters outside the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. "This is the first time that the state of Israel has taken this issue seriously, and will provide aid to the needy who survived the death camps and the ghettos as well as those who haven't received any aid until now," said Uri Arazi, spokesman for a survivors organization.
The new government plan splits the survivors into two groups: those who survived in ghettos and camps, and those who became refugees but did not come under direct Nazi rule. The refugees, who number around 85,000, are not included in the new arrangement. While pleased with the deal, representatives of the survivors said they would not be satisfied until a solution is also found for the refugees. "The problem has still not been solved, and there are still some painful issues open," Zev Factor, chairman of the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, told ‘Channel 2’ television.
Last week, an Israeli government body had issued a report strongly criticizing the state’s assistance to hundreds of thousands of elderly Holocaust survivors living in Israel. State comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss said that 143,000 of the 250,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel did not benefit from any financial aid, while 50,000 benefited from state aid and 57,000 received reparations from the German and other governments.
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