Last update - 00:00 14/11/2006
Bill to aid Holocaust survivors stalled over treasury opposition
By Amiram Barkat
A bill that would grant social benefits to Holocaust survivors in dire economic straits was once again put on hold on Tuesday, as the Finance Ministry reiterated its opposition to the plan.
The bill was set to be approved by the Knesset Immigration and Absorption Committee on Tuesday and then brought back to the Knesset floor.
If passed, the bill would define for the first time who can be considered a Holocaust survivor and would grant benefits to needy survivors. The benefits would cost NIS 65 million a year, and would cover 75 percent of the recipient's monthly prescription drug costs, as well as providing assistance in procuring public housing. It would also exempt the recipient from paying the annual television tax.
A representative of the treasury's budget branch, Moshe Bar Simantov, said the state would be willing to provide only NIS 7 million to the proposed benefits package.
Simantov also said that the state was opposed to establishing a legal definition of "Holocaust survivor," and to the criteria by which the rights would be granted.
According to the wording of the law, "eligible Holocaust survivors" able to receive the new benefits are those who were interned in concentration camps or spent some part of the war in ghettos, or in hiding, whose economic situation is dire.
The treasury's opposition to the law has sparked outrage amongst survivors in Israel.