State commission to probe delays in survivors’ benefits
State Control Committee announces appointment of state commission of inquiry to investigate longstanding delays in benefit payments to Holocaust survivors
“The commission will be charged with investigating whether the government is doing all that is in its power in order to aid survivors,” said Orlev.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated Monday that the government will do all it can to aid the newly appointed commission of inquiry as soon as it begins its investigation.
"”We will act to ensure that the survivors receive what Israel has pledged to give them after 60 years of oversight and neglect," said Olmert, noting that “each day that passes and brings additional delays in payment is an unacceptable occurrence.”
Israeli law mandates that a state commission of inquiry can be established by the State Control Committee based on recommendations from the state comptroller. The State Control Committee has given ample prior warning indicating that is intends to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate governmental mismanagement of Holocaust survivors.
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss issued a special report on Holocaust survivors in August, and severely criticized various governmental bodies and their treatment of survivors.
When it comes to aid and support for the survivors, payment of benefits, legislation, funding for support centers, and disability benefits for survivors there is “marked governmental mismanagement of survivors and their needs”, concluded Lindenstrausse.
Delays still ongoing
In October, the government voted to allocate an additional NIS 1 billion ($262 milion) to survivors as a supplement to state stipends allocated to over 725,000 Israeli pensioners. However there were marked difficulties and delays in transferring these funds.A downpayment of NIS 6.6 million ($1.7 million) was transferred to a Holocaust Survivors’ Welfare Fund Sunday, just hours before the prime minister reached an agreement with representatives of Holocaust survivor organizations on a timetable for benefit payments.
The government was due to transfer this aforementioned sum at the start of 2008 to a special fund for survivors of camps and ghettos that were not eligible for other benefits due to bureaucratic technicalities.
Due to disagreements between various government offices, however, survivors will only receive these benefits ,retroactively as of February 2007, starting in March of this year.
The government also concluded at a January 1st meeting that the social affairs minister and the finance minister would jointly decide which governmental body would ultimately transfer the benefit payments to the 8,000 Holocaust survivors.
