Justice Dalia Dorner
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Inquiry commission head: Survivors deserve special treatment
Special investigative committee probing State's failures to provide for needy Holocaust survivors convenes first session at Yad Vashem. MK Orlev: End the disgrace
A special inquiry commission with executive powers to probe years of failure by the Jewish state to provide adequate financial help for needy survivors of the Nazi Holocaust held its first session at the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Dalia Dorner, the committee's chairman, said during the meeting that "The Holocaust survivor population deserves special treatment from the State. The numerous complaints received by the commission are indicative of failures that need to be addressed."
Inquiry commission (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Knesset Member Zevulun Orlen (National-Union-NRP), chairman of the State Control Committee, which decided to establish the special inquiry commission, said "the committee presents hope for the return of the survivors' dignity. I hope this investigation will bring an end to the State's disgraceful treatment of the survivors."
Orlev urged the committee members to expedite the investigation, reminding them that "40 Holocaust survivors pass away every day".
Apart from Justice Dorner, the panel also includes Prof. Omer Moav, an economist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of London and a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, and Prof. Zvi Eisikovits, who heads the Center for the Study of Society at Haifa University.
The investigation will focus on the conduct of past and present governments in fulfilling agreements, promises and resolutions meant to support Holocaust survivors, refugees and victims of Nazi persecution.
