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Nana, 2 July 2007

Two months ago, the prime minister committed to conclude the handling of the poor Holocaust survivors in need “within the coming days”. However, he cannot keep his word regarding this issue any more. The issue is forgotten.

Ehud Olmert’s Promise

It’s no secret that about 60 thousand Holocaust survivors in Israel live under the poverty level. Many of them live on a 2,000 Shekels ($470) per month budget that they get from the Bituach Leumi (national health insurance company). Despite the prime minister’s promises, the government is not rushing with a helping hand. One of these Holocaust survivors is Ida Kentzik, 81 from Hadera, who lives her life from a state budget of 3,000 Shekels a month. This sum is meant for her husband and  her. “I thank Israel for allowing me to live on it’s land, but my husband’s situation as well as my own is very bad - we both need medicine and daily help and have no one to turn to”, she says.

In 1991, Ida Kentzik immigrated from the Ukraine. She had been living in the Ukraine since World War Two, together with her husband and two daughters. “When I was 14, half of my family members died in the Holocaust. My father was sent to do hard labor and was killed in the city of Nicholai in Ukraine. I saw 20 thousand of my city residents being sent to extermination camps and only a few of them survived and returned.”

Ida Kentzik says that at the beginning, the reception process in Israel was working fine, but that after a short while her financial and health situation began to get worse. “Today I need to buy 1,500 Shekels ($350) worth of medicine and so does my husband, who has suffered brain strokes and has Parkinson’s disease. He is lying in his bed and needs daily medical aid. The money from the State isn’t enough for us and the situation is getting worse each day” says Ida Kentzik.

The hostel where the couple reside grants them accommodation and food, but it cannot aid them in financial and medical matters. Ida Kentzik’s two daughters have barely managed to adapt in Israel, and they are not able to help their parents financially.

The only movement that aids this couple is the Helping Hand Coalition who initiates different humanitarian missions all around the world. The coalition aids thousands of Holocaust survivors in Israel. The support given to the Ida Kentzik couple at the moments is mainly with food, but the movement says its intentions are to aid in medical and accommodation matters as well. During the recent Holocaust Memorial Day, the Coalition gave out thousands of food packs to survivors in need in Israel.

The Coalition representative said to “Nana”: “It cannot be that in 2007 a Holocaust survivor must chose between medicine and food as a result of lack of budget. These holy survivors need to be treated as angels. I would have never thought that in Israel, out of all places, the survivors would reach the verge of hunger”.