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Ignoring report on survivors' benefits sheer cruelty, says Justice Dorner
Holocaust Survivors' umbrella groups calls emergency meeting in light of government continuance disregard of Dorner report on stipends; survivors plan mass protests, PM's office to hold series of meetings on report during week
The Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel (COHSI) held an emergency session Sunday and decided to appeal to the government with a request to spur the implementation of the recommendations of the Dorner Committee report.
The committee's main recommendation was to increase the stipends received by Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Israel before the signing of the reparations deal with Germany.
Justice (Ret.) Dalia Dorner, who headed the committee, told Ynet that the matter must remain a top public priority: "Every day that goes by in which the government fails to implement the report sees more (survivors) pass away… this is sheer cruelty."
Noah Flug, chairman of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors, told Ynet that the survivors are contemplating several means of protest, including mass protest rallies and a possible hunger strike.
"Time is not on our side," he told Ynet. "Implementing this report is critical for the survivors."
The board of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors is expected to meet with Raanan Dinur, Director-General of the Prime Minister's Office on Monday, to discuss the report.
The Prime Minister's Office is expected to hold several meetings on the matter in the coming week, including one with representatives of the Finance Ministry, who are expected to brief Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regarding their stance on the matter.
The PM's Office offered the following statement: "The prime minister has received the Dorner Committee report and has instructed the appropriate elements in his office to study it. Once that is done, a meeting with the relevant personnel will be summoned. A separate meeting, which will be held at ministerial level, is scheduled for later this week."
Should any amendments be deemed necessary to any of the government's previous decisions on the matter, added the statement, they will be discussed as part of 2009 governmental budget.
National Religious Party Chairman MK Zevulun Orlev, who heads the Knesset's State Control Committee and was instrumental in the formation of the Dorner Committee, told Ynet that the government's disregard for the committee's report was "adding insult to injury… it is nothing but an expression of the government's heartlessness and callousness and we cannot accept it."
