Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened the special ministerial team established to assist Holocaust survivors Thursday.
The meeting was attended by Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri, Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman, Welfare Minister Haim Katz, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofia Landver, Deputy Finance Minister Itzik Cohen and Director of the Holocaust Survivors Authority "Avi Rosenthal.
The meeting revealed that in addition to the grants and benefits to which the survivors are entitled, there are additional services that the government provides to Holocaust survivors, such as welfare and health services, but difficulties often arise in the realization of the services.
It was noted that no comprehensive mapping was conducted of the needs of each of the survivors, such as access to housing, public housing, and the purchase of medicines that are not in the health basket. In addition, due to the aging of the survivor population, there is a need to increase and change some of the services and grants which are currently provided.
The meeting that Netanyahu convened today is the first of a series of discussions that will deal with solutions to the challenges mentioned. The Prime Minister instructed the ministries to locate every survivor and ensure that the government's extensive resources in this field reach their destination.
The meeting determined that the list of survivors who do not utilize the nursing services due to them will be transferred from the Ministry of Welfare to the Ministry of Finance. In addition, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) undertook to complete the rights realization project in all the local authorities (currently only 50 municipalities are implementing the project). The Minister of the Interior will also work to increase municipal property tax reductions for needy Holocaust survivors.
Netanyahu instructed his ministry's director-general, Eli Gruner, to examine the sections of the State Comptroller's report on aid to Holocaust survivors, together with Deputy Minister Itzik Cohen, and with the participation of the various government ministries and to formulate solutions to be presented to the ministerial team next month.