Herzog announces hot line for survivors

The Ministry of Welfare and Social Services is currently searching for a company to run the center and the hot line.

By RUTH EGLASH
Herzog 224.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Herzog 224.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Minister of Welfare and Social Services Isaac Herzog announced Thursday that his office is planning to create a comprehensive information center, including a telephone hot line, aimed at assisting Holocaust survivors in navigating through government bureaucracy to find out exactly what type of benefits, compensation and assistance they are entitled to. Sources from the minister's office told The Jerusalem Post that the center, which will provide the estimated 260,000 survivors and their families with in-depth details about their rights, will be established as soon as possible. The Ministry of Welfare and Social Services is currently searching for a company to run the center and the hot line, said the sources. According to Holocaust survivor organizations, tens of thousands of survivors in Israel miss out on some NIS 250 million a year in benefits simply because they are unable to navigate the system. Last month, the Knesset approved historic legislation broadening the eligibility requirements and increasing benefits for around 8,000 survivors. However, a spokeswoman for the ministry told the Post that despite letters and forms being sent so far to the survivors, less than half had returned the forms to date. This week, the department of rehabilitation for Holocaust survivors within the Finance Ministry announced the establishment of a unit responsible for assisting survivors in filling out the paperwork. It can be reached at (03) 568-2651. Many of those that the new legislation aims to help are immigrants from the Former Soviet Union who arrived here within the last 15 years and who do not speak fluent Hebrew. A 2005 study by the Fund for the Welfare of Holocaust Survivors in Israel found that more than 40 percent of Israel's estimated 260,000 survivors live below the poverty line.