Elderly Immigrants Demand Equal Rights for Holocaust Survivors

Ahead of the upcoming elections, two organizations representing elderly immigrants, Hazit HaKavod and the Forum for the Support of Elderly Immigrants, are launching a campaign to secure concrete commitments from political parties regarding the rights of Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Israel. A central demand is to equalize the social rights of Holocaust survivors who arrived after October 1, 1953, with those who arrived before that date.

The organizations plan to present a unified package of demands for 2027-2030 to all parties and seek public confirmation of their willingness to implement these demands in the next Knesset. The package was first presented to opposition leader Yair Lapid and representatives of the Yesh Atid party on September 22.

According to the organizations, over 70% of Holocaust survivors who immigrated after October 1, 1953, live below the poverty line, compared to about 1% of those who arrived before that date. This disparity is considered a historical and social injustice that the state must rectify.

Yair Lapid, whose father was a Holocaust survivor, pledged to advance legislation to equalize the rights of Holocaust survivors regardless of their immigration date. He highlighted his past efforts in 2014 as Finance Minister, which granted official status and social support to approximately 80,000 survivors who had escaped during the war.

Beyond the Holocaust survivor issue, the organizations' broader demands include increasing minimum old-age pensions, enhancing housing assistance, and revising the criteria for recognizing former Soviet Union citizens as Holocaust survivors. The organizations aim to receive clear commitments from parties, emphasizing that dignified old age is a right, not a privilege.