Survivor groups reject Bank Leumi's offer

Organizations representing Holocaust survivors have rejected the Israeli Bank Leumi's offer to pay NIS 35 million (US$ 8 million) immediately, as an advance on funds which belonged to Jews who died during the Second World War.
The bank's decision represented "a media spin on the part of the bank, which is doing whatever it can so it doesn't have to return all the funds," the newspaper "Ha'aretz" quoted the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, an umbrella group incorporating 28 organizations, as saying. "The report of the bank's 'readiness' to return NIS 35 million is a dishonest attempt to make do with returning the minimum sum determined by the Knesset Inquiry Committee, and so avoid returning all the property," the group said in its statement. The Center said it would continue its campaign against the bank. A report published by a parliamentary committee in January found that Bank Leumi should pay between NIS 35 million and NIS 307 million to the heirs of Jews who died in the Holocaust after depositing money in the bank.