A 90-year-old Dutch Holocaust survivor who recently moved to a West Bank settlement near Modi’in to be near her son had her pension check cut by more than a third by the Dutch government, The Times of Israel reported Friday.
The woman, a 90-year-old Dutch Holocaust survivor identified in the report only as D., received a monthly pension of about €1,100 (4,300 shekels) from the Dutch government. She moved to Israel in the past few months because of the recent spike in anti-Semitic attacks, her son told the station. Now she receives €740 (3,200 shekels), a reduction of nearly 35 percent, plus what she gets from the Israeli government as a Holocaust survivor.
“She got a letter and it says, ‘Honorable lady, because you went to live on the West Jordan Bank and we have no agreement with this periphery, we are obligated to deduct a large amount from your elderly pension,’” the woman’s son, who lives in an unspecified West Bank settlement near Modiin, told Channel 2. …
“This a law voted on by the Dutch government,” he added. “It affected my mother catastrophically; I was personally shocked, my family was shocked. This is unbelievable: They are punishing a 90-year-old woman because she immigrated to Israel and because it’s the territories and she lives in the state of Israel… and this is her livelihood. I mean, this is her pension. How is this possible?”
According to the television news report, the woman has been unable to sleep since receiving the letter. The family is fighting the Dutch government’s decision.
According to a post on the website of the World Jewish Congress, the woman was prompted to move to Israel due to growing levels of anti-Semitism in Europe:
Colette Avital, the head of the Center of Organizations for Holocaust Survivors, which represents 52 different groups in Israel that seek to promote the welfare of those who survived the Shoah, said on Israeli radio on Monday that the new policy was misplaced. “European government can certainly take a position as it relates to Israel’s policies in the territories, but the conclusions in this regard need to be taken up with those who make the decisions in Israel,” she declared, calling it “surprising and outrageous that the Dutch government, of all countries, chooses to impose sanctions against civilians who endured the Holocaust on its territory and who subsequently chose to move in with their children at an old age.
“It is hard to accept such harassment of survivors, whose welfare needs to be sacrosanct in the eyes of the Dutch authorities,” said Avital, according to the ‘Jerusalem Post’.
[Photo: Stuart Marc Davidovich / Flickr ]