Holocaust survivors 'in poverty'

[alonzomourning23]

This doesn't seem to fit well with Israel's rhetoric:

A Holocaust survivor's support group has said 40% of survivors in Israel are living below the poverty line, Israel Radio has reported.

Most of the 170,000 people affected emigrated from the former Soviet bloc and now get little financial help.

Zeev Factor, the chairman of the Holocaust Survivors' Welfare Fund, says many survivors get no pensions and have to live off $390 a month.

Israel officially sets the poverty line at an income of $400 a month.

Mr Factor said his fund, which provides welfare and medical assistance, was "running out" of money.

"These people live off 1,800 shekels ($390) [per month] and are today extremely old and many of them in precarious health condition," he told Israel Radio.

Inequality

Holocaust survivors aged over 65 who arrived in Israel in the last 10 years from eastern Europe have found themselves lacking financial support from both their homelands and Israel, Mr Factor said.

He added that survivors who arrived in Israel after World War II from the West can be entitled to pensions from international Jewish organisations and the Israeli, German, Austrian and Swiss governments.

Israel's parliament approved a bill earlier this month that would give survivors an extra $11 million of support for rent and prescription medicines.

However, the bill will only become law if it passes two more readings scheduled to be held after March's general election.

The Israeli finance ministry says it provides $326 million of support to Holocaust survivors every year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4566762.stm

 

[onapartyrock]

I personally am more concerened with homeless USA WW2 veterans.

 

[greenbags125]

Israel cannot possibly provide for all of the poor. Since their immigration policies are extremely lax, complete care for immigrants are not feasible and some problems are bound to remain.

 

[alonzomourning23]

I'd rather have been a ww2 veteran than spend the war in a concentration camp. I also would expect a state that claims itself to be a jewish state, a state that continously uses the holocaust (particularly groups like Likud) for political gain, and a state that was designed to protect jews from past horrors, would treat the holocaust survivors better. And when such a state tries to tell jews from all over the word to come there, I would think they would treat all jews equally, particularly holocaust survivors, and not treat some holocaust survivors better than others.

Also they continously try to gain more citizens through immigration, something which an above poster said they can't really afford. There is also a difference between having certain groups recieve less instead of having it spread around relatively equally.