Thousands of people marched Sunday between the Knesset and the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, to protest the government's intent to grant Holocaust survivors a monthly stipend of a mere NIS 83.

The March of the Living had been in jeopardy of being canceled because of disputes between the survivors' organizations, and due to pressure from the government.

The organizers are demanding a formal statement by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to revoke the decision and promise to hold immediate talks with representatives of the survivors.

	Advertisement

A relatively high number of the participants were second and their generation descendants of the survivors, and the number of actual survivors at the protest was relatively low.

Shmuel Reiner, who survived the Holocaust as a young child, said many of the survivors were too sick or poor to attend, but that he was proud of the large number of youth in attendance.

"I am proud of the State of Israel and embarrassed by its leaders," he said, while holding an Israeli flag. "Every day that the solution to the problem is delayed, 35 people disappear, and thus the problem is 'solved.' [This is] a disgrace to the country."

Be'er Sheva resident Miriam Yahav, who survived Auschwitz and Treblinka, called on the government to give survivors "all the money the state received for survivors and didn't transfer to them."

"Over 60 years ago we were murdered and robbed by the Nazis and those who helped them," she continued. "Years later, we the surviving few who live in Israel are being robbed again by our own government."

National Union-National Religious Party MK Zevulon Orlev, Labor MK Colette Avital, and Meretz MKs Ran Cohen and Zahava Gal-On were among the attendees, along with Tafnit Movement leaders Yossi Peled and Uzi Dayan.

Olmert: March is 'politically motivated'
Olmert criticized the march on Sunday, saying the protest was motivated by political interests.

Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, the prime minister said that the topic is a volatile and sensitive one, saying, "I don't want to respond to the secondary aspects of the affair, and to attempts by different bodies to advance their own political agendas, because an exaggeration on this issue would be undesirable."

"Those that send to the newspapers a picture of a woman in pajamas wearing a yellow patch, drag the discussion down to an unacceptable level, and these pictures will not dictate the government's action on the issue," Olmert added.

With this sentiment, Olmert joined earlier criticism voiced by Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog, who said Sunday that the survivors' planned protest march was an insult to the memory of the Holocaust.

In an interview with Israel Radio, Herzog said "a march in which survivors will wear prisoners' clothes and yellow patches, all in the name of a financial dispute with the government, is an insult to the collective memory of the Holocaust." He called upon the group to "use judgment and responsibility in their methods of objection."

The welfare minister added that "the government has decided to correct decades of wrongs and halt the discrimination between different survivors." He explained that though the amount of money to be granted to the survivors has not yet been determined, it will likely include several hundreds of shekels.

President Shimon Peres said Sunday that the dispute over the stipend must be resolved in an "honorable manner," adding that he is confident the government handling the matter properly.

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) called on the government to present a solution immediately. "The state's economic situation allows us to assist those who need help," he said. "Many of the elderly Holocaust survivors deserve that the state allow them to lead dignified lives."

On Sunday morning, Pensioners Minister Rafi Eitan proposed a solution to the dispute, offering stipends of between NIS 1,000 and NIS 6,000 per month. Noah Plug, who heads an umbrella organization of survivors' advocacy groups, said the solution had nothing substantial or new to offer.

Eitan suggested that the eligible survivors be divided into two groups, one group containing Holocaust survivors, and the other containing refugees who never endured the Nazi regime, such as immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Under Eitan's proposal, the survivors would receive a monthly stipend that will range from NIS 1,000 to NIS 6,000. The refugees would get an allowance of between NIS 300 to NIS 750.

The inclusion of the immigrants in the group eligible for the survivors' stipend had earlier drawn criticism as it streched the budget allotted to Holocaust survivors even thinner than it had been originally.

In response to Eitan's proposal, Plug told Haaretz that the survivors currently receive a minimum of NIS 1,040 in aid, and a maximum of NIS 6,000. The sum is determined by income and disability. Therefore, Eitan's proposal offers what is already granted under the law.

"This supposedly 'new' proposal grants survivors something they already receive. There is an urgent need to expand the number of survivors who will receive such sums under the existing law. For example, those who lived in the ghettos less than 12 months, those who were in concentration camps less than 6 months, or survivors who have been in Israel less than 15 years. All in all there are 10,000 survivors who have endured the horrors of the Holocaust who fall through the cracks [under this law] and get nothing from the government. The 'new' proposal does not address these individuals," Plug said.