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Newsletter : 8fax0807.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Aug. 7, 1998, Vol. 6 No. 140
Israeli Government Won't Release Holocaust Reparations
By Mark Lavie (VOA-Tel Aviv)
In Israel, hundreds of mentally-ill survivors of the Holocaust live
in primitive conditions in mental hospitals, while millions of
dollars of their German compensation money piles up in state
administered bank accounts. That has outraged members of some
Holocaust survivor groups.
About 900 survivors of the Holocaust are wards of the state in
Israel, suffering from severe mental illnesses that resulted from
the horrors they experienced in Nazi death camps. Like other
Holocaust survivors, many receive monthly compensation payments
from the German government. But unlike the others, the mental
hospital patients do not benefit from the money.
The Israeli official in charge of wards of the state confirmed
that the money, estimated in the millions of dollars after more
than 40 years of payments, piles up in bank accounts administered by
the state. He turned down a request from one of the mental
hospitals to use money in a patient's bank account to buy an air
conditioner and a television for his room. The reason? The
money can be used only for the patient, and not for anyone
else. There are up to eight patients in each room at the mental
hospital -- the others, too, would benefit from an air conditioner
or a television in the room.
Six Million Jews were killed by the Nazis in a campaign to
exterminate the Jews of Europe during World War 2. About 300,000
survivors of the Holocaust immigrated to Israel after the war.
Many suffered mental and physical disabilities from the time they
were prisoners in the death camps. A few had to be confined
permanently to mental hospitals.
The director of "Amcha," a group that offers psychological
counseling to Holocaust survivors and their children, charged the
Israeli government is holding billions of dollars that belong to
survivors, instead of using it to improve their lives as Israeli
law requires.
He pointed out that this comes at a time when Israel is demanding
that Swiss banks release money from accounts in the names of Jews
who were killed by the Nazis. He asked, "What about the money
the Israeli government is holding?"
Israeli Demographic Trends in 1997
By IsraelWire
The number of families in Israel at the end of 1997 stood at 1,359,000, of which 1,142,000 were Jewish, 155,000 Muslim and the remainder Christian, Druze or of other religious affiliation. 67% of families, or 904,000, were defined as "traditional", i.e. a couple with unmarried children. 83% of Muslim families are traditional, compared to 64% of Jewish ones.
There were a total of 81,000 single parent households with at
least one child, 89% headed by women, 60% were divorced and 6.5%
had not been married. 250,000 families are couples without
children, and 52% are couples aged 65 or older. 139,000 families
have children aged 25 or older living at home, including families
or single parents with children.
Foreign Workers in Israel -- In 1997, Israel issued a total of
62,900 visas for foreign workers, a 31% drop from 90,600 visas in
1996, the peak year for such visas. Visas were issued to citizens
of 128 countries. Leading countries were Romania, Thailand, Turkey,
Lebanon and CIS states (mainly Ukraine and Moldova). 70% of the
visas went to men aged between 25-44. An significant exception was
the Philippines, 83% of visas were for women.
The largest rise in illegal residents came from firmer CIS states,
followed by Jordan, Colombia, South Africa and Nigeria.
City Wall Built to Defend Against Romans Uncovered at Zippori
By Arutz-7 News Service
A section of the city wall built by people in the Galilean city of
Zippori to defend themselves during the Jewish revolt against Rome
in 67 C.E. has been uncovered in excavations directed by Dr. Ze'ev
Weiss of the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology.
This is the first significant archaeological structure at Zippori
that has been uncovered from the 1st century C.E. The exposed wall
section was apparently never needed, since the people of Zippori
decided in the end not to join the Jewish revolt and instead opened
their gates to the Romans. The result was that Zippori was not
destroyed by the Romans, but rather went on to flourish as a mixed
Roman-Jewish city.
Zippori, west of Nazareth, served as the home of the Sanhedrin, the
central body of Jewish and legal and spiritual life during the
Roman period. It was also the home of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi (Judah
the Prince), codifier of the Mishna.
Benefits Approved for Returning Israelis
By IsraelWire
The Ministerial Committee for Diaspora Relations and Absorption
approved on Tuesday a proposal to encourage the repatriation of
native Israelis living abroad for five or more years. The plan
calls for a benefit package to be offered in honor of Israel's
Jubilee year. The benefits include a grant of between $1,140 and
$2,850 relative to family size; tax exemption on electronic items;
partial scholarships for university or trade school; and exemption
from military reserve service for one year.
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