Holocaust Remembrance Day this year coincides with the inauguration of a new Knesset. But while the 24th Knesset turns its attention to forming a government and potentially dissolving again, for Holocaust survivors there is no time to spare.
They cannot wait for yet another election and a new Knesset. Some 180,000 survivors live in Israel, about 50,000 of them are impoverished and 10,000 live alone. Every month, their number dwindles even further. It is high time for consensus on helping alleviate their condition, regardless of parties' political differences.
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Just before the election, the nonprofit group Aviv for Holocaust Survivors gave lawmakers a new emergency plan that would hopefully have all legislators unite behind it in an effort to deliver on the most important goal: a safety net for all survivors so that they could live in dignity.
I have worked in advocacy for Holocaust survivors for almost 30 years, and over the past several years have witnessed a major increase in the budgets appropriated to their welfare. So why are so many still living in poverty?
First, we have to remember that their average age is 82. They are entitled to many benefits, but the criteria and scope keep changing, leaving them without the knowledge of their most up-to-date status and what they can get.
That's why almost half of survivors who turn to Aviv for help – without being charged of course – discover many things they have not been aware of previously. In many cases, these include many monetary benefits that could transform their lives and make the difference between poverty and proper living conditions.
But the main reason that so many live in such horrid conditions is the fact that some 70,000 do not qualify for benefits. These are the survivors who made aliyah from the states that were behind the Iron Curtain or from Tunisia and Libya. Having arrived only after 1953, when the special compensation agreement with Germany was signed, they are not entitled to the monthly stipend and the yearly benefits.
We have proposed to increase the yearly allowance by a significant sum through legislation or some administrative process so that even those who were left in the lurch due to their arrival date would be able to get some benefits and live a dignified life. Israeli society has a moral obligation to help Holocaust survivors and we must help undo some of the hardships that they have had to endure as they enter their last remaining years.
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