Report: Stipend for needy Shoah survivors in Israel might not be paid in July

Thousands of Holocaust survivors in Israel might not receive their monthly allowances at the beginning of July because of an ongoing legal dispute between two companies, the newspaper 'Haaretz' reports.

For nearly a year – from July 2015 through April 2016 – this money had not been paid to the survivors because of a legal dispute between two companies. In April, after months had passed without transfer of the allowances, Israel's Finance Ministry decided to provide the funds to needy survivors as a one-time solution.

The survivors were supposed to receive a grant of around $700 for the coming three-month period, but 'Haaretz' now says that the money will not be paid out. 

The reason for the delay is the refusal of the Company for Location and Restitution of Holocaust Victims’ Assets (Hashava) to sign a document obligating it to pay the money back to the government. Hashava was established by law in Israel in 2005 to locate and return unclaimed assets to Holocaust victims and their heirs.

The Finance Ministry says it is unable to loan the company the money in the absence of budgetary resources – and in particular because it needs a commitment that Hashava will reimburse the funds before the company is due to cease operating next year, or perhaps beforehand when the legal dispute between it and the Jewish Colonial Trust is settled.

The JCT is a financial institution founded in 1899 in London and entrusted by the Zionist Organization at the Second Zionist Congress with the responsibility for supporting and financing efforts to establish the Jewish national home in Palestine. About half of the still-outstanding shares of JCT were owned by people who perished in the Holocaust,

JCT owns almost 5 percent of the shares of Bank Leumi today, and refuses to sell them and transfer the money to Hashava.

An Israeli Finance Ministry official told 'Haaretz' that the ministry “does not intervene in the internal disputes between companies. In an unprecedented manner, we transferred money to the survivors and we intend on continuing to transfer until the dispute between the companies is solved, with the understanding that the dispute cannot be [carried out] at the expense of the survivors.

"However, for almost two months, the company [Hashava] has simply been unwilling to sign a simple document that will allow the transfer. The order has been given and the money is ready, and they are give us all manner of excuses and requests for changes [some of which were agreed to by the treasury] – but are still not signing,” the official added.