Noah Flug
Photo: Sasson Tiram
Ra'anan Dinur
Photo: Sebastian Shiner
Pensioner Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan
Photo: Yoav Galai
Shoa survivors continue struggle
Holocaust survivor representatives meet with ministers, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, in efforts to end struggle for increased allowances
The heads of Israel’s Holocaust survivor organizations sat down with Ra'anan Dinur, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, for a two hour meeting Thursday, in an effort to bring an end to the difficult struggle faced by survivors.
Rejection
Yael Branovsky
Heads of Israel’s Holocaust survivor organizations hold emergency meeting following Olmert’s proposal to allocate NIS 130 million in financial assistance in 2008; ‘it seems as though the government considers us a burden and is waiting for the biological solution,’ survivor says
Director-general of the Welfare Ministry, Nahum Itzkovitch, participated in the meeting, along with Pensioner Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan who mediated between survivor representatives and Dinur.
The meeting concluded with an agreement to address all the relevant issues in a short period of time. The timetable will be presented to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next week.
Following the meeting, Noah Flug, a Holocaust survivor and chairman of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors told Ynet, “As far as we are concerned, the fight is still on.”
He said that the meeting went well and that survivor representatives intended on continuing talks. “We are all rolling up our sleeves and working together to end the distress of the Shoah survivors in coordination with the organizations,” Flug said.
In the meantime, the rally by Shoah survivors expected to take place on Sunday has not been cancelled.
“The struggle isn’t over, but serious talks have finally started. The suggestion published regarding giving NIS 83 ($19) to each survivor no longer exists. That whole thing is off the table and that is a significant result in my opinion,” Flug said.
“I will report to all of the survivors about the results of the meeting, and if they still want to protest on Sunday, we’ll protest.”
