Billions of dollars of Holocaust reparations have gone unpaid - opinion

In their inaction over the past six years, the two Social Equality ministers have demonstrated lack of commitment to the issue, which is now also being demonstrated by the State Comptroller.

By ARON MOR
Yad Vashem Security guard stnds at the empty Hall of Names in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum (photo credit: FLASH90)
Yad Vashem Security guard stnds at the empty Hall of Names in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum
(photo credit: FLASH90)
Reform is essential as the Israeli government is neglecting the missing third of the 1952 reparation’s agreement and restitution of Jewish property while tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors pass away without getting a measure of justice at the dawn of their lives
The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, held annually on January 27 in dozens of countries, focuses this year, under the auspices of the United Nations, the European Union and UNESCO, on preventing Holocaust denial and the prevention of distortion of Holocaust facts. On this occasion, it is imperative to highlight two major international issues from the Holocaust period that remain open: 1) the missing third of the reparations agreement and 2) the restitution of Jewish property. In these matters, both with a high moral imperative, there is a continuing default of the Israeli government that does not address it.
The missing third of the reparations agreement is East Germany’s unpaid share in the 1952 reparations agreement and is at least $17 billion in today’s terms. The Israeli government is revealed here as weak when it does not demand this amount from the German government. It is inconceivable that such a large sum would remain in the hands of Germany instead of helping Holocaust survivors. In the current crisis, part of this amount can also greatly help the victims of COVID-19 pandemic. The government should not be surprised if a petition is submitted to the Supreme Court (BAGATZ) on this issue.
For political reasons, the restitution of Jewish property is the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Equality. It began with a job for three ministers without portfolio and ended when Rafi Eitan, the last of them, who carried the issue with him to the Pensioners Affairs Ministry, which became later the Social Equality Ministry. We are talking here of looted Jewish property today worth hundreds of billions of dollars. An examination of their diaries, according to the Freedom of Information Law, of the last two ministers for Social Equality shows that in the past six years, neither Minister Gila Gamliel nor Minister Meirav Cohen addressed the issue. The ministerial department dedicated for the subject in the Ministry of Social Equality was dismantled and its posts were directed to other needs. It is therefore surprising that the Social Equality Ministry recently issued a tender for the selection of an external consultant on the subject, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of shekels a year. As there is now a transitional government that tender deserves to be frozen.
In their inaction over the past six years, the two Social Equality ministers have demonstrated lack of commitment to the issue, which is now also being demonstrated by the State Comptroller. For the past year and a half, the State Comptroller has been preparing an audit report on the restitution of Jewish property from the Holocaust period. It is still unclear when it will be published. While the State Comptroller was dragging his feet, more than 22,000 Holocaust survivors died. In the past six years, 90,000 Holocaust survivors have died; an average of 41 die every day. These tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors will no longer be able to enjoy the restituted property at the twilight of their lives.
Restitution of Jewish property from the Holocaust era needs reform. The issue must be addressed by the Custodian General at the Justice Ministry, who has the authority in the Custodian Law to restitute the property left abroad by Israeli residents. There is also a need to reestablish the special ministerial committee whose lack is very noticeable. In the current situation there will be no progress on restitution of Jewish property since the Social Equality Ministry doesn’t have and will not possess in the future powers by law and is also unable to establish the required Ministerial Committee.
Most recently, on July 29, 2020, during president Donald Trump’s term, the US State Department submitted to Congress a comprehensive report on the state of restitution of Jewish property from the Holocaust era in Europe. This report was prepared in accordance with a law signed by the president called the “Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act Report. The report identified that nothing had progressed on the matter. Due to the laxity of the Ministry of Social Equality and the Israeli government, this extraordinary opportunity to engage Congress and the US administration was not taken advantage of with a sympathetic American Congress and with an American president who was considered a staunch supporter of Israel.
Benny Gantz, a second-generation Holocaust survivor serving as justice minister, social equality minister and alternate prime minister, now has an extraordinary opportunity to transfer dealing with restitution of Jewish property to the Justice Ministry.
As Holocaust survivors die by the tens of thousands, immediate action is needed because a “biological solution” that waits until the last survivors die is unthinkable. The organizations of Holocaust survivors in Israel are silent because they are held captive by the Social Equality Ministry because of the financial support it provides them, without which the organizations would not survive.
The ongoing failure on both issues requires a state commission of inquiry, which the State Audit Committee in the Knesset has the authority to establish and the Knesset has a moral imperative to support. It is appropriate that all parties running for election, both existing and new, adopt the two issues: the missing third of the reparations agreement and the restitution of Jewish property and act to realize them. Justice for Holocaust survivors at the end of their lives should be instituted now, even if it is partial justice.

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The writer is the founder of the Working Group for the Restitution of Jewish Property. He served as a senior adviser for the restitution of Jewish property in the Prime Minister’s Office and as Senior Director at the Social Equality Ministry, formerly the Ministry for Senior Citizens. He composed his dissertation on ‘Restitution of Jewish Property from the Holocaust Era.’


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