Today is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a
memorial day for the victims of the Holocaust, six million European Jews as
well as millions of others by the Nazi regime. The day was designated by the
United Nations General Assembly Resolution on November 1, 2005.
190,000 Holocaust survivors reside in Israel today. 50,000 are
estimated to live below the poverty line, according to the Association for
Immediate Help for Holocaust Survivors. The average age of Israel's remaining Holocaust survivors is
80.
“It feels like they
are a bother to our government which is just waiting for them to pass away”, Susan Rotem, a volunteer with the Association
for Immediate Help for Holocaust Survivors, says
A report published by the Foundation for the Benefit of
Holocaust Victims in Israel in April 2014, one of every four Israeli Holocaust
survivors lives in poverty. One out of five noted that they were forced to
choose between medication and food during the past two years due to economic
hardship, and half reported suffering from loneliness. Over a third approached
the Foundation last year to request assistance; most of these fall into the
Finance Ministry’s “needy” category.
"We cannot ignore the fact that the state had failed to
provide the remedy, welfare, containment, treatment and the attentiveness that
Holocaust survivors need and deserve," a recent report about survivors
published in Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper suggested.
There is a classification for government assistance for
Holocaust victims. Those who are described as survivors and those who fled to
become refugees. Only those who were deported to camps or ghettos during the
war are automatically eligible for compensation, while the rest have to argue
their case.
When the reparations agreement with Germany signed in 1952,
claims Yossi Katz, Israel placed the needs of the new state above the needs of
the survivors. The German funds were used to build the country and absorb
refugees, and Israel, in the name of the survivors, waived any further claims
against Germany. This precluded the possibility of personal injury claims by
Israeli survivors, unlike their fellow survivors living anywhere else in the
world. The struggle for legislation to compensate deprived Holocaust victims
continues to this day. Israel left the matter of personal claims against
Germany to private organizations, which opened the way for a thriving industry
of public and private bodies that profit at the expense of the survivors.
4 comments:
I would like to ask the Socialist Party: when will there be a remembrance day for the victims of the british empire, which killed an inestimable of people in numerous countries, but nevertheless, is still praised or at least not pictured as an evil government? Don't confuse my statement as an apology to the evil that Hitler has caused, all I am saying is that he wasn't the most evil leader in history, even less the only one who promoted massacre. It seems like he is only he remembered as such because he was against the interest of the current dominant powers, which have promoted the same things as him in the same level, however, they're forgiven by history, history was written by them, the winners.
You, nazis and apologists of the british empire, are equally horrible people, but not treated the same way.
One minute of silence for:
former African colonies of the extinct british empire
Jamaica (former colony of the same empire above)
Victims of the atomic bomb attack in Japan
Victims of the incalculable middle-east wars promoted by the dominant powers (Iraq and Afghanistan are only a small portion of those wars)
Victims of the british empire attacks in India
Victims of the holocaust in nazi Germany
Socialist Party Of Great Britain can never lose its british eurocentric roots, even though its members refuse to admit it. That's why most of the british population are still reluctant to support you. Not because you're different from them, but because you're exactly like them and try to hide it.
This is my open letter for you. I am from Africa.
Best regards.
The Socialist Party began in 1904 and throughout its history it has tried to expose the complicity of British capitalism with the terror and horror of its bloody role.
In the First World War when those tried to lie that it was a war of democracy and a defence of the underdog, we highlightedthe hypocrisy that Belgium was to blame for torture and murder in the Congo. The party tried to publicise the Bengal Famine in the midst of the Second World War.
We feel sorry that you are unaware of this part of our history. We offered our solidarity and fraternity with our fellow workers around the world, and many members suffered individual tragedies in their opposition to the capitalist wars.
We categorically reject your charge and request that you actually provided evidence in support of your accusations so we can reply specifically.
If we sought a minute silence for all the innocent victims of capitalism, there would be many years of accumulated silence. But the Socialist Party prefers to raise its voice against the innumerable crimes of capitalism.
As you say you are from Africa you may be interested in visiting our blog entirely devoted to African issues
http://socialistbanner.blogspot.com/
Thank you for the link. I didn't know that blog before.
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