Together, we will take care of our Holocaust survivors
The survivors living among us are the last generation to carry, in their bodies and their memories, the living testimony of the Holocaust. They built their homes here, raised families, founded communities, and shaped the story of the State of Israel. What we owe them is not charity and not a favor. It is a moral and national duty: to ensure that every survivor can live in security, dignity, and health, with a sense of belonging.
Today, approximately 110,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel. Their average age is about 88, and sadly, about 10% of them pass away each year.
The next government will be the last in which we can still take meaningful steps on their behalf.
That is exactly what we will do. We will increase survivors’ income, with an emphasis on the poorest among them. We will cut bureaucracy and improve the services survivors receive, and we will strengthen social and health support. This is the repair we will make, together.
What's the problem?
Assistance to Holocaust survivors is currently delivered through several separate tracks. Some receive a monthly allowance, while others receive an annual grant. The latter are mostly survivors from the former Soviet Union, survivors of the Vichy regime in Morocco and Algeria, and survivors of the Farhud pogroms in Iraq. Low-income survivors on the annual grant do not receive many of the additional benefits available to those on a monthly, income-based payment, and they lack the support they need to cope with the high cost of living.
Even the monthly allowance often falls short of covering survivors’ needs, and some services intended for all survivors remain too difficult to access.
Yet despite this need, across nine state budgets the current government has not allocated a single dedicated increase for Holocaust survivors, beyond linking allowances to the Consumer Price Index.
What's the solution?
We know that it is possible to do things differently. In the Bennett-led Government of Change, we increased the annual grant for survivors from the former Soviet Union by more than 60%, a grant we had originally established ourselves. Over the past decade, we also led the effort to provide free medication to all Holocaust survivors.
During that period, we also raised allowances for senior citizens and expanded rental assistance, this to fight poverty among seniors in general and among Holocaust survivors in particular. In total, the Change Government delivered an additional NIS 2.5 billion to survivors, both from the state budget and from foreign governments.
That is how we will govern in the coming Repair Government. We will strengthen the economic security of all Holocaust survivors, with an emphasis on those with lower incomes. We will slash bureaucracy and improve the service they receive while expanding health, social and community support.
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How will we know we've succeeded?
Less financial hardship among Holocaust survivors
By raising the annual grant to 12,000 NIS and expanding financial benefits, we will significantly reduce the economic hardship survivors face.
Less bureaucracy, more accessible service
Every survivor will receive what they are owed in the easiest and most convenient way possible.
Easier access to care, companionship, and community
No survivor will be kept from medical or mental health care, or from taking part in social activities, by cost or mobility difficulties.
Together We Will Care for Holocaust Survivors
01
Increasing the annual grant for low-income survivors
Today, about 72,000 Holocaust survivors receive an annual grant of 7,688 NIS, and about 45% of them are eligible for an income-supplement allowance from the National Insurance Institute. We will raise this annual grant to 12,000 NIS. Through direct, permanent, bureaucracy-free assistance, we will increase survivors’ income and reduce their financial hardship.
02
Preventing the erosion of the monthly allowance
Today, the monthly allowance, to which about 37,000 Holocaust survivors are entitled, is linked to the Consumer Price Index. Given the worsening health condition of many survivors, and the fact that the survivor population is shrinking by about 10% each year, we will raise the monthly allowance for eligible survivors by 10% annually. This will help fund the additional needs that arise with age.
03
Earmarking budget surpluses for all Holocaust survivors
Since 2014, survivors whose German compensation falls below the state’s allowances have received a payment to close the gap. As German compensation has gradually risen, the amount of money spent on such payments has shrunk. We will establish a permanent mechanism to ensure that these savings are not returned to the state treasury or diverted elsewhere, but are reinvested in programs and services for all Holocaust survivors.
04
Expanding associated benefits
We will extend eligibility for discounts on electricity, water, and municipal property tax (arnona) to survivors who receive the annual grant and qualify for an income supplement, using the existing mechanisms in each area. This will close the gap between low-income survivors on different eligibility tracks and help ease the burden of the high cost of living.
05
Making services accessible in Russian
About 37% of Holocaust survivors in Israel were born in the former Soviet Union and many do not receive service in their own language. Service in one’s mother tongue is a basic condition for exercising one’s rights and dealing with the state with dignity. We will fund positions for Russian-speaking staff at the Authority for the Rights of Holocaust Survivors and at other bodies that provide services to survivors. In addition, we will direct part of the support budgets to organizations in proportion to the share of Russian-speaking survivors they serve.
06
Reducing the need for medical committees
Survivors with a disability rating below 49% will automatically receive a payment equivalent to the 49% level, without having to go through the bureaucracy of a medical committee. Their right to request recognition of additional injuries or a higher disability rating will be preserved.
07
Helping survivors get to medical treatment
Today, the Authority for the Rights of Holocaust Survivors reimburses travel expenses for treatment of illnesses recognized as persecution-related. We will expand state-funded transportation, delivered through civil society organizations, to cover medical treatments outside the existing reimbursement track. This will make it easier for survivors to keep living in their communities and get the care they need.
08
Strengthening social activities for survivors
Across the country, centers and clubs for Holocaust survivors offer social and cultural activities and, at times, mental health care, social work support, and community services. We will increase the budget for these institutions and work to reduce survivors’ co-payments so that cost is not a barrier to participation.
