Shoah survivors to get reduction in electricity rates
On eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, cabinet slated to approve significant drop in electricity prices for survivors. Exact rate to be set within 45 days
On the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, the cabinet is slated to approve in its Sunday meeting a significant reduction in electricity prices for 7,180 needy Shoah survivors. According to the plan, the State will fund about half the cost of each survivor's first 400 kWh. The percentage of the final reduction will be determined by the ministers of welfare, finance and infrastructure along with the Electricity Authority.
The motion was made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau days after a significant discount in the price of medication for Holocaust survivors was approved.
There are currently some 80,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel, who receive stipends from the Finance Ministry's Authority for Holocaust Survivors' Rights. According to law, a consumer eligible for income support from the State receives a reduction of up to 50% in home electricity prices for the first 400 kWh consumed each month.
Up until now, this reduction did not apply to needy Holocaust survivors receiving stipends from the State. Sunday's decision should enable them to receive this discount as well. The exact rate of the benefit will be determined within 45 days.
"This is an important and humane decision. The government has a moral obligation to aide the Holocaust survivors and to prevent distress among them. Their old age compels us to act swiftly and generously," Netanyahu said.
"This decision is just one in a line of such decisions that the government has already made, including increasing old-age stipends for senior citizens by billions of shekels, adding new technologies to the health basket, and more."
Minister Landau said, "The verse: 'Cast me not off in the time of old age', gets a deeper meaning, especially when it comes to Holocaust survivors. Even today, 65 years after the ghettos, the death marches and the extermination camps, it is important to look out for the welfare of those who went through such difficult horrors."
Half of survivors suffer from depression
According to the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel, there are currently 207,000 elderly living in Israel who survived the Nazi atrocities. Many of them are in need of support, and only some of them are deemed eligible for State stipends. In the past five years the number of survivors in need of aid from the foundation has grown by 140%, and currently stands at some 55,000.More grim data show that about half of them suffer from depression, and the rest have expressed dissatisfaction with the way they pass their time. Fifty-six percent of them reported a deterioration in their health in the past year.
In recent years the government has increased its aid to survivors. Some two years ago, the Dorner Committee report was published, and led to an increase in the monthly stipend paid to those that fall under the Disabled Victims of Nazi Persecution Law.
Last month, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz ordered the one-time transfer of NIS 30 million (roughly $8.1 million) toward aid for Shoah survivors, in addition to the decision to update their compensation twice a year, in accordance with the euro rate. The budget of the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Survivors was increased this year to NIS 200 million ($54.2 million).
Yael Branvosky contributed to this report
