21 August 2007
The speaker of Israel’s parliament (the Knesset), Dalia Itzik, has apologized to Holocaust survivors living in Israel for neglecting their plight. During a special session, Itzik apologized to Shoah survivors on behalf of the Jewish state for neglecting their needs over the past few decades. "Israel demanded reparation payments from Germany, but did not allocate them in a just and logical manner to those who needed them," Itzik said, adding: "We are here to rectify the situation so that we may be able to look into the survivors' eyes, and tell them on behalf of Israeli society: 'We apologize'," she said.
The apology came a day after prime minister Ehud Olmert had reached an agreement with representatives of Holocaust survivors in Israel to significantly increase stipends for needy survivors. However, the two sides parties failed to agree on benefits for 85,000 people living in Israel who fled the Nazi regime but were never incarcerated in ghettos or in Nazi camps, with the premier postponing discussion of the issue until at least next month.
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