04 March 2008
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has approved a law stipulating an increase in the stipends granted to Holocaust survivors, in accordance with a deal struck with the survivors' representatives over the summer. The new law will grant financial assistance to 8,000 Holocaust survivors that have so far been excluded from any reparations deal with Germany and therefore did not receive any financial compensation. Welfare minister Isaac Herzog described the approval of the law as a "historical achievement." Until today, he said, there had been "terrible discrimination between survivors who may have laid down next to each other in the same cabin at Auschwitz," but one of them received reparations and the other did not.
The law will enter into force in April and it is estimated that it will cost NIS 1 billion (US$ 275 million) a year. Eight thousand Holocaust survivors living in Israel, who until now have not received any assistance, will now get NIS 1,000 per month. They will also receive a annual grant of NIS 4,000, convalescence pay, discounts on property tax and other benefits.
