Project HEART in Times Square
Project HEART in Times SquareIsrael News photo: David Karp

Visitors to Times Square in New York City will likely notice a short film currently being screened on one of the giant screens in the square. The film features Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is seen and heard calling for justice to be done for the victims of the Holocaust.

The video will run for 90 days and came into being as part of a joint project by the Jewish Agency and the Israeli government. The project, called HEART (Holocaust Era Asset Restitution Taskforce), seeks to reach eligible persons, Jewish Holocaust victims and their heirs worldwide, who or whose families owned movable, immovable, or intangible personal property that was confiscated, looted, or forcibly sold in countries governed or occupied by the Nazi forces or Axis powers during the Holocaust era.

The ultimate aim of Project HEART is to provide the tools, strategy, and information that will enable the government of Israel, Project HEART, and its partners to secure a measure of justice for eligible Jewish victims and their heirs, as well as for the Jewish people.

The advertisement in Times Square was made possible by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous.

“Project HEART is an initiative of great importance and holds out the promise that we can finally achieve the justice so long denied to victims of the Holocaust and their heirs,” says Netanyahu in the video. “It provides the world with an opportunity to fulfill its humanitarian responsibility towards those who suffered the many torments of the Holocaust.”

“Many Holocaust victims returned to their homes and found that they cannot regain their property,” said Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky. “For the first time since the Holocaust, a comprehensive general plan for gathering information in order to receive compensation for property that was looted, stolen or sold by force during the Holocaust has been launched.”

For more information on Project HEART, visit www.heartwebsite.org