Holocaust survivors in Israel went through hell before finally having their rights acknowledged by the government. A reminder: When Israel signed its reparations agreement with Germany in 1952, it agreed in the name of the survivors to relinquish their right to sue Germany for the bodily harm they suffered at the hands of the Nazis. With that, Israel made a commitment to take care of the survivors' needs and compensate them for their suffering. It took years to enact the first piece of legislation on that issue, the Disabled of the War against the Nazis Law, and it only passed because of public pressure. And the law referred only to survivors considered "disabled," making it applicable only to a small number of victims who could prove disability. It was also limited to citizens who arrived in Israel before 1953. Holocaust survivors who arrived in Israel after that date -- the majority of Israel's survivor population -- were in effect denied any benefits, and were subjected to countless injustices as the years went by. Not only that, but the Bureau for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, established by the Finance Ministry to implement the law, treated them in a harsh and humiliating manner. Many waited for up to seven years for their claims to be processed. A campaign by the survivors' advocacy organizations led to a gradual change in how they were treated, which was codified in various laws and improved their conditions immeasurably. The number of survivors eligible for compensation increased, as did the benefits and discounts they were granted. No less important is how they are now treated by the Finance Ministry's Holocaust Survivors' Rights Authority, which replaced the Bureau for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled and handles the survivors' matters quickly and efficiently and treats them with respect. These changes paid the debt of respect owed to the Holocaust survivors still living among us, and expressed true concern for the need to guarantee them decent lives for as long as they have left. Yet now, in the blazing summer heat, we have been informed that the cabinet reshuffle has turned the care of Holocaust survivors into a ministerial "portfolio" and a bargaining chip for politicians. Now they intend to transfer the responsibility for the care of survivors from the Finance Ministry to the Welfare Ministry. No one doubts the good intentions of Welfare and Social Services Minister Haim Katz, who was recently also put in charge of kindergartens, vocational schools and employment services. But the Holocaust survivors are not just another bundle to be moved around. Holocaust survivors, who went through the worst of the worst and are getting legally mandated compensation for the nightmare they experienced, are not welfare cases and do not want to be seen as such. Labeling them as welfare cases in their twilight years is a badge of shame for the Israeli government. Waving the threat of cutbacks -- the expected consequence of transferring responsibility to the Welfare Ministry -- over their heads and leaving them to navigate the choppy waters of the National Insurance Institute bureaucracy means sending them on another horrific journey. Holocaust survivors have been through enough. There is no need to make them suffer any more than they already have. We call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the issue off the table immediately and not allow the survivors to be used as a political bargaining chip. Colette Avital is a former MK and chairwoman of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel.
Holocaust survivors are not a bargaining chip
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