Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this afternoon  convened a discussion on the situation of Holocaust survivors living in Israel.  Social Welfare and Social Services Minister Yitzhak Herzog, Pensioner Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan, Justice Minister Prof. Daniel Friedmann, Health Minister Yaacov Ben Yizri and senior Finance Ministry representatives attended.
 
Prime Minister Olmert asked to receive a report from the various ministries on what is being done to improve the situation of Holocaust survivors in the country and directed the ministries’ representatives to work nonstop in order to resolve the survivors’ plight as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
 
Prime Minister Olmert directed Social Welfare and Social Services Ministry Director-General Nahum Itskovitz to continue the work of the committee that he chairs, in coordination with the other relevant ministries, and submit draft legislation, within approximately two weeks, on improving the situation of Holocaust survivors living in Israel.
 
Prime Minister Olmert said: “I asked to hold this discussion in light of the distress of Holocaust survivors who either do not receive support payments or who receive payments that are insufficient for their needs.  It cannot be that Holocaust survivors should go hungry and live in places that are not fit for human habitation.  We must find a way to resolve this.”
 
Social Welfare and Social Services Minister Herzog said that his Ministry would submit a comprehensive plan next month on dealing with the plight of Holocaust survivors, starting in 2008.
 
Pensioner Affairs Minister Eitan said that his ministry is checking into how to change the situation in which many Holocaust survivors receive insufficient support payment.