Leumi agrees to pay 8 million dollars to Shoah survivors

The Israeli Bank Leumi is prepared to pay some NIS 35 million (US$ 8 million) as an advance on the funds of Jews who perished in the Holocaust, in a reversal of its former policy. The bank said it was willing to pay the money immediately and without conditions. The sum constitutes the bank's basic liability, which was established by a special parliamentary committee in its January report. Bank officials say they are ready to pay this amount once they get an official request from the Knesset or the Israeli cabinet. The bank's public relations chief Gideon Shor told the newspaper "Ha'aretz" that the bank was willing to pay the money as humanitarian aid to Shoah survivors or for any other public cause deemed fit by the official bodies that approach the bank. A government mechanism that will handle the funds' distribution to the survivors and heirs of victims is still being prepared.