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A Holocaust survivor attending a special Knesset discussion last month on the financial state of survivors in Israel. (Tess Scheflan / BauBau)
Last update - 00:00 16/09/2007
Israel asks Germany to fund Holocaust survivors' stipends
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: survivors, holocaust 

Israel has asked the German government to fund an annual NIS 150 million in stipends for about 8,000 Holocaust survivors. Representatives of the prime minister on Sunday provided survivor organizations with a summary of their negotiations, including a few new details.

Under the deal, the key new benefit is a stipend for 8,000 concentration camp and ghetto survivors who previously had not been receiving anything. These survivors will now be entitled to a monthly NIS 1,000 stipend and service vouchers worth an annual NIS 2,400. The total value of this package is slated to rise to NIS 1,600 a month by 2010.

"Compensation for this group, an estimated 8,000 people, will be funded by the German government," the summary states.
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The parties agreed that next year, Israel will provide NIS 100 million for medical and nursing services for Holocaust survivors, a sum that will double to NIS 200 million in 2009. Most of the money will be distributed through the Holocaust Survivors Welfare Fund. Survivors also will be entitled to discounts on medications, public broadcasting fees, municipal taxes and taxes on electrical appliances. In addition, needy survivors
will receive annual grants of NIS 4,000.

The request for more German funding was submitted a few days ago, but no formal response has been received. Off the record, senior Berlin officials say the German government is likely to agree to provide the additional NIS 150 million a year, recognizing responsibility for these survivors who had "fallen between the cracks." In addition, the parties say Chancellor Angela Merkel has decided to concede to the Israeli government on this matter.

Not all the agreements are covered by the state budget, and the parties decided that in addition to increased German assistance, "extra-budgetary resources will be raised, both in Israel and abroad," referring to the Claims Conference and the Company for Restitution of Holocaust Victims Assets.

One unsettled matter concerns Holocaust refugees who escaped areas occupied by Germany (Second Circle Survivors), who total around 65,000 people in Israel. Despite survivor organizations' demands, the prime minister refused to grant any special treatment to these individuals, determining the matter would be handled under a comprehensive stipend
plan for Israel's elderly that National Economics Council chair Manuel Trachtenberg is drafting.

The parties also decided to establish an information center to collect all existing data regarding Holocaust survivors in Israel and to inform them of their rights. A special decoration will be awarded to all Holocaust survivors as part of Israel's 60th independence events
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  1.   Watch out, Palestinians 22:18  |  Axel 16/09/07
  2.   Asking someone else 22:22  |  Ella 16/09/07
  3.   #1 Axel 22:36  |  D 16/09/07
  4.   You can be sure Angie will solve the problem!She`s great! 22:52  |  Alan 16/09/07
  5.   #1 Axel 22:52  |  Alan 16/09/07
  6.   German money is welcome, Germans are not 23:02  |  Axel 16/09/07
  7.   Not a single agura 00:25  |  Leo 17/09/07
  8.   Do we know no shame 00:28  |  Liz 17/09/07
  9.   #6 Good Germans are welcome. 00:40  |  Laila 17/09/07
  10.   "The Holocaust Industry" written by Norman Finkelstein 01:05  |  nobodysacred 17/09/07
  11.   How much longer 01:49  |  Red 17/09/07
  12.   Stipends for survivors 02:25  |  Saba 17/09/07
  13.   Shame on Israel 03:05  |  Moise 17/09/07
  14.   Start Banking Your Sheckels Boys 03:27  |  Nite Owl 17/09/07
  15.   to 14 Nite Owl 06:11  |  Lavy 17/09/07
  16.   What arrogance from the upstarts in Israel 06:57  |  Dutch 17/09/07
  17.   Unmitigated gall 07:51  |  Rey 17/09/07
  18.   Deir Yassin 07:57  |  Rey 17/09/07
  19.   Israel the thief and disgrace 08:49  |  Grif 17/09/07
  20.   Kfar Etzion 09:15  |  New Day 17/09/07
  21.   Laila (#6) 09:28  |  christoph 17/09/07
  22.   Not German, but stolen money 09:38  |  Jonathan S 17/09/07
  23.   Germany 10:19  |  croll 17/09/07
  24.   Axel (#6) 10:20  |  christoph 17/09/07
  25.   I never asked for money 10:23  |  sweis Melbourne 17/09/07
  26.   Beggar`s cap in one hand and a hot potato in the other... 10:38  |  Highlander 17/09/07
  27.   lavy 15 12:59  |  realism 17/09/07
  28.   # 24 christopher 16:42  |  Axel 17/09/07
  29.   cristoph (#21) 16:43  |  Alex 17/09/07
  30.   the funding is justified 16:52  |  Alex 17/09/07
  31.   # 30 alex 18:43  |  Axel 17/09/07
  32.   axel 09:31  |  sweis Melbourne 18/09/07
  33.   Axel, Israel takes all and give nothing 12:19  |  Dutch 19/09/07
  34.   The funniest part 09:41  |  Tad 27/09/07
  35.   hej 03:29  |  dustin waddell 24/04/09
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