The Association for Immediate Help for Holocaust Survivors announced on Thursday
that it will make transportation available for survivors who have physical
difficulties moving to go to the polls on Tuesday.
Volunteers of the
association nationwide will use their own cars. The AIHHS will ensure the
vehicles are easy to get in and out of, and in some cases are adapted for the
wheelchair bound.
The association has called for more volunteers with
SUV-type vehicles to participate in the initiative on
Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Yad Sarah organization charged on Thursday that
the Central Elections Committee has “ignored” its request to subsidize trips of
physically disabled voters on its Nechonit vans to get them to polling stations
on election day.
Only Yad Sarah has offered disabled voters free
transportation to vote, but due to the costs of petrol, the organization says it
can’t do so without help.
The Nechonit service is available round the
year by calling 1-700-501-800; a relatively small fee is charged, but Yad Sarah
wanted it to be free on Election Day.
Two weeks ago, Yad Sarah asked the
committee, headed by Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, to subsidize the
costs, as the state does pay for voters to travel by Israel Railway and the bus
companies to their polling booth if it is distant from where they are on
Election Day.
“The state provides rides for healthy people but ignores
those who are not able to get around by themselves,” the voluntary
organization’s director of services and branches said. “It’s a shame that the
state invested large sums to make buildings containing polling booths accessible
to the disabled, but doesn’t make sure that they can get there. In any case, the
Nechonit service will operate on January 22 but those who travel will have to
participate in the cost.”
In the last year, 140,000 disabled around the
country were aided by Nechonit vans and were able to access weddings and other
celebrations, doctors and other events.