Libyan Shoah survivors to get reparations

Jews who immigrated to Israel from Libya after being persecuted by Nazis during WWII to be eligible for compensation, government decides. Depuy finance minister: We're fixing historic injustice

Ynet |Published: 09.14.10 , 19:02

Jews who immigrated to Israel from Libya after being persecuted by the Nazis during World War II will be eligible for reparations, the Prime Minister's Office said Tuesday. The move was promoted by the PM's Office and Finance Ministry together with the Holocaust Survivors' Rights Authority.

According to the statement, "The Libyan Jews' eligibility is based on their exposure to the Nazi persecution and their escape from their homes for fear of this persecution."

Figures compiled by the Holocaust Survivors' Rights Authority show that some 5,000 survivors will be able to file for reparation, at a total cost of NIS 110 million (about $29 million).

Israeli Jews of Libyan descent will also be eligible to a fixed monthly pension at a minimal sum of NIS 1,822 ($484), as well as benefits – including convalescence pay, funding of medicine, participation in purchase tax abatement and exemption from television fees.

"We made an important decision not to make things difficult and to come towards the population of elderly Holocaust survivors who resided in Libya during World War II," Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz explained.

"Due to the circumstances created, it would have been wrong to create a mechanism which would look into each case thoroughly, as the elderly may suffer distress as well as additional bureaucratic burden."

Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen said the decision was "a repair of historic injustice caused to a wide public of Holocaust survivors, who were not compensated for the great suffering they experienced during the Nazi era."