Protesting. Shoah survivors
Photo: Gil Yohanan
New funds allocated for Shoah survivors' welfare
Government to funnel $371.6 million through survivors' social security benefits. Survivors' organizations 'pleased with outcome'
The government announced Monday that additional funds, amounting to $371.6 million, would be allocated to the welfare of Holocaust survivors.
The funds, funneled through the National Insurance Institute, are to be divided: some $247.7 million will be given to the Holocaust survivors in general and some $123.9 million are designed to benefit the elderly in dire financial need.
The funds will be distributed through the survivors' social security payments, the amount of which will be decided on according to an eligibility scale, worked out between the government and the survivors' representatives.
"This is an important step… I'm proud of the government for doing what none of its predecessors had done," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reports Monday.
Noah Flug, the chairman of an umbrella organization for Holocaust survivors, said the survivors were pleased with the negotiation's outcome.
