Bill: Additional aid for Holocaust survivors
Bill initiated by Yedid foundation calls for additional aid of NIS 2,000 per month to survivors whose income falls short of NIS 4,000
Knesset Members Colette Avital (Labor) and Zevulun Orlev (National Union-NRP) will submit a bill to the Knesset calling to institutionalize further financial aid to Holocaust survivors.
The bill, which was initiated by the Yedid foundation, states that each survivor whose income falls short of NIS 4,000 a month, will be granted a NIS 2,000 monthly pension from the state.
Currently, some survivors rely on reparations from Germany, others get a NIS 1,200 stipend from the state and some – mostly emigrants from the former Soviet Union, are entitled to no aid whatsoever.
Yedid Deputy Director General Ran Melamed told Ynet, "Our bill does not aim at contradicting or replacing other laws, but its message is very simple. Any Holocaust survivor who does not have enough money to support himself, will be given money from the state, no matter where this money comes from."
According to MK Avital, the new bill is set to eradicate the gaps between Holocaust survivors, and see to it that they each get equal payments from the state.
