01:42Israel: Thousands of Holocaust survivors living below the poverty line
Israeli authorities "don't do enough" for people who survived the Holocaust, said Holocaust survivor Eva Kovalenko in an interview with RT in Tel Aviv, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Tuesday.
Decades after the Kovalenkos left Ukraine, they say they still struggle to get adequate help from the government. "We are not even asking for public welfare homes, rather for a hostel where we can live our last days peacefully," Kovalenko told RT.
Moreover, former Member of the Israeli Parliament Colette Avital, who heads an umbrella organization of Israeli Holocaust survivors, stated that they "do get pensions, some of them from Germany, some of them from the state of Israel, but whatever they get is not sufficient." She went on to say that Israeli authorities used to say that they are not "guilty of the Holocaust" and therefore it is "Germans who should pay." Avital believes, however, that while the Israeli government is "certainly not guilty" - but is still "responsible" for its own citizens.
Today, according to the non-profit Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims, approximately 198,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel. Around one-quarter of them live below the poverty line, according to the organisation.
01:42Israeli authorities "don't do enough" for people who survived the Holocaust, said Holocaust survivor Eva Kovalenko in an interview with RT in Tel Aviv, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Tuesday.
Decades after the Kovalenkos left Ukraine, they say they still struggle to get adequate help from the government. "We are not even asking for public welfare homes, rather for a hostel where we can live our last days peacefully," Kovalenko told RT.
Moreover, former Member of the Israeli Parliament Colette Avital, who heads an umbrella organization of Israeli Holocaust survivors, stated that they "do get pensions, some of them from Germany, some of them from the state of Israel, but whatever they get is not sufficient." She went on to say that Israeli authorities used to say that they are not "guilty of the Holocaust" and therefore it is "Germans who should pay." Avital believes, however, that while the Israeli government is "certainly not guilty" - but is still "responsible" for its own citizens.
Today, according to the non-profit Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims, approximately 198,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel. Around one-quarter of them live below the poverty line, according to the organisation.