On the way to improving the lives of the survivors?
A historic agreement signed between the Authority for Holocaust Survivors and the Romanian National Insurance will make Holocaust survivors from Romania entitled to a monthly pension for the persecution of the Holocaust.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Minister of Social Equality Merav Cohen announced today (Sunday) that the new agreement aims to regulate the accepted way of submitting appropriate claims.
Colette Avital, the chairman of the Center for the Organizations of Holocaust Survivors, estimated in a conversation with "Israel Today" that about 7,000 survivors may receive an allowance of hundreds of shekels a month thanks to the new agreement. According to her, "After World War II, the communist regime in Romania denied citizenship to anyone who left the country, and as a result their entitlement to pensions was also denied.
"About six years ago, an amendment was passed to the law that allowed those who could prove that they were a Romanian citizen during the war to receive the pension, even if they no longer hold citizenship," Avital explained.
"However, the survivors were required to present an unacceptable list of documents that can no longer be obtained, so we started negotiations with the Romanian government.
"The negotiations with Romania lasted a long time, until about two years ago we signed an agreement according to which the survivors would be required to present only an Israeli certificate that recognizes that they are Holocaust survivors, and to meet six criteria in order to receive the allowance.
Despite this, the National Insurance in Romania refused to recognize the agreement.
So we got the Israeli government involved in the issue, through the Ministry of Social Equality.
Now, at the end of another year and a half of negotiations, the agreement has been signed and we can issue the necessary permits for the survivors."
As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I am thrilled by the signing of this important agreement.
Israel should do everything so that the Holocaust survivors can live here with the dignity they deserve.
Today we are correcting a decades-old injustice.
It is our duty as a society to make sure that the survivors live the rest of their lives to the best of their ability.
Thanks to Sarah for social equality Merav Cohen, Colt Avital and all the partners
— Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) August 1, 2022
"As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I am excited about the signing of this important agreement. The State of Israel should do everything so that Holocaust survivors can live here in the country with the dignity they deserve," Prime Minister Yair Lapid congratulated on the new arrangement.
"Today we are correcting an injustice of decades. This is our basic duty as a society - to ensure that the survivors live the rest of their lives to the best of their ability.
"We do not have many years left to serve the survivors of the Holocaust, therefore we act out of a sense of mission and urgency to do as much as we can in order to improve their economic situation, enrich the services provided to them and allow them to age with dignity" said the Minister of Social Equality, Merav Cohen.
"In the past year, we concluded agreements with several countries that resulted in the addition of hundreds of millions of shekels that will be transferred to the accounts of the survivors"
Prime Minister @yairlapid and I are happy to announce that we have signed a historic agreement with the Romanian government, thanks to which Holocaust survivors will be recognized as entitled to a monthly pension from the Romanian National Insurance for the persecution of the Holocaust.
In this way, we make it easier for the survivors in the bureaucratic process to submit claims from the Romanian government pic.twitter.com/7KAcMLLnbP
— Meirav Cohen - Meirav Cohen 🟠 (@cohen_meirav) August 1, 2022
"These steps led to some Holocaust survivors increasing their monthly income by thousands of shekels," the minister continued.
"We will continue to act with all our might for the Holocaust survivors and the older population in general in Israel. I thank Colt Avital, chairman of the Holocaust Survivors Organization Center, the Romanian Embassy in Israel and all those who cooperated with us for our Holocaust survivors."
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