JFNA Chides WZO about their Moral Responsibility to Assist Survivors

“We believe this issue is a high priority of the world Jewish community,
and the knowledge that significant numbers of survivors in Israel are
not receiving the intended financial support is deeply troubling to the
leadership of the American Jewish community.”
Richard Sandler and Andy Groveman

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[Background: Earlier this summer eJP published J’accuse! WZO Fails its Financial Responsibility to the Poorest Survivors of the Holocaust – a look at monies being withheld from needy Survivors due to the political, financial and legal manipulations of World Zionist Organization senior professionals. Not only did our article create a firestorm on both sides of the Atlantic, but the WZO found it necessary to have their [probably highly overpaid] outside public relations firm pressure us to make changes. Of note, the same firm ignored all clarifying questions put to it by eJP.]

August 4, 2016

Mr. Avraham Duvdevani, Chair
World Zionist Organization
48 King George Street
Jerusalem, Israel

Dear Avraham,

We appreciate the time that Lipa Meir and Reuven Shalom, on behalf of WZO, took to meet with the leadership of JFNA/UIA to help us better understand the complex issues related to the matter of Otzar Hityashvut’s assets and payment of pensions to Holocaust survivors.

We were pleased to hear that the legal issues are progressing and we all can hope for a decision in the very near future.

However, as we all know, the legal process, at times, can be very lengthy.

Separate and apart from the legal outcome, we are very concerned about the moral responsibility to assist the survivors financially without delay. In light of the interim government funding plan not materializing, which on the telephone call you thought would happen, we urge Otzar and Hashava to take steps immediately to provide the much needed funds to the survivor community.

Many local US communities have created or are actively raising special funds dedicated to providing financial and other assistance to the survivor community in the United States, and JFNA is in the midst of a special three-year effort towards this objective as well.

We believe this issue is a high priority of the world Jewish community, and the knowledge that significant numbers of survivors in Israel are not receiving the intended financial support is deeply troubling to the leadership of the American Jewish community.

We hope the World Zionist Organization, as our partner in supporting Israel and advancing Jewish life globally, will find a prompt, creative and effective solution to this hardship situation without compromising your legal position in the ongoing litigation.

Clearly this is a situation that we both are concerned about and we look forward to your updates as to the status of payments to the survivors.

Sincerely,

Richard Sandler
Chair, JFNA Board of Trustees