Caucus: Better gov't care for Holocaust survivors

Knesset Caucus chairwoman calls for improvement of rights for survivors, State's responsibility to assure "survivors live in dignity".

By LAHAV HARKOV
Holocaust Survivors 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Holocaust Survivors 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The state must ensure Holocaust survivors live in dignity, Knesset Caucus for Holocaust Survivors chairwoman Yifat Kariv (Yesh Atid) said on Thursday. On Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls on April 8, she is to attend a conference with Education Minister Shai Piron (Yesh Atid) and survivors.
As it does every year since 1989, the Knesset will host a ceremony titled “Every Person Has a Name,” after the poem by famed Israeli writer Zelda, in which names of those who perished in the Holocaust are listed.
During the ceremony, ministers and MKs tell stories of their relatives who were killed in the Holocaust.
The caucus plans to hold a conference immediately after the ceremony to call for the government to take better care of those who went through the Holocaust. There are no current MKs who are Holocaust survivors.
“The State of Israel, which was founded on the moral rights of the Jewish people after the horrors of the Holocaust, is responsible for taking care of the few Holocaust survivors that are still alive, and allow them to live in dignity,” Kariv stated on Thursday.
The MK said the government must hasten the process of aiding survivors and helping them take advantage of all their rights and benefits.
“It’s scandalous that the State of Israel does not have one clear definition of who is a Holocaust survivor,” she added. “This is one of the central problems we plan to solve.”
Kariv said that she hopes to compile a comprehensive list of Holocaust survivors for the government in order to make sure that those who deserve benefits receive them. She also hopes to reduce the bureaucracy that survivors face in trying to take advantage of their rights.