The Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee convened for its sixth meeting Tuesday, regarding the application of the Holocaust Victims Assets Law.
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The meeting revealed that only a fraction of inheritors had received their share of funds.
Of NIS 87 million ($21 million) transferred to the Company for Location and Restitution of Holocaust Victims Assets, only three inheritors were paid NIS 75,000 ($18,100) in total, NIS 25,000 ($6,000) each.
The funds received by the company were comprised of money deposited into banks before the Holocaust began, or properties that ended up with the Administrator General after their legal owners could not be located.
According to the report, the sum is comprised mostly of NIS 67 million ($16 million) that were received from the Administrator General. The remaining funds were received from banks – NIS 20 million ($4.8 million) from Leumi Bank, and NIS 225,000 ($54,400) from Hapoalim Bank.
The company claims that the banks owed it about NIS 217 million ($ 52 million). Leumi Bank, formerly the Anglo-Palestine Bank, owed the majority of the sum (an estimated NIS 160 million, or $39 million), as most Holocaust victims had deposited their money there.
The victims’ money was seized by the mandate government when the Second World War began, as it was considered “property of enemy state residents”. Some of the money was returned to its owners following the establishment of the State of Israel.
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