Survivors protest against Israeli bank over Holocaust assets

A group of Holocaust survivors has demonstrated outside the headquarters of an Israeli bank, urging it to turn over unclaimed assets of Holocaust victims to destitute survivors. An Israeli parliamentary report early this year concluded the government and several banks, including Bank Leumi, Israel's oldest commercial bank, hold more than US$ 200 million in assets belonging to Holocaust victims. The bank says it no longer holds any such funds. "Sixty years after the Holocaust, there are still records that are closed. There are still accounts that are unaccounted for. There are still names of people that are unknown," Bobby Brown, director of the World Jewish Congress's Israel Office, told AP. Survivors demanded that all the unclaimed assets be converted to funds to aid them. About 280,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel, but the population is rapidly aging and in many cases living in difficult conditions. Bank Leumi said it turned over all unclaimed accounts to the government in the 1960s, but accepted the report's conclusion that it undervalued these assets at the time. It said it has set aside US$ 8 million to cover this shortfall and is waiting for the Israeli government to set up a mechanism to distribute the funds.