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Israel And Britain:Special "About Time Too," Dosh & Disadvantaged Edition ...
In August last year we published a piece about Israel's shameful indifference toward some special old Israelis ...
Today - 5 months later - we caught sight of the following headline:
Israel to probe neglect of Holocaust survivorsHere's quick clip from said relevant report.
And about time too, eh?JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli legislators voted on Monday to form an inquiry commission with executive powers to probe years of failure by the Jewish state to provide adequate financial help for needy survivors of the Nazi Holocaust.
Israel's establishment in 1948 with international backing came after the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees and Holocaust survivors from Europe after World War Two.
Many of the survivors, now elderly and infirm, have complained for years of not receiving adequate funding to allow them to live out their remaining years in dignity.
"Holocaust survivors are tired of promises and they have been treated failingly for years," said Zvulun Orlev, who heads Israel's parliamentary state audit committee
Also today we spotted this story. It's another one highlighting the long term plight of a different disadvantaged/neglected group. But this one's all about Brits.
Disabled poverty 'hits millions'So the British government "insists" it's developing a long term strategy, eh?
Disabled people are twice as likely to live in poverty than others
As many as three million people with disabilities in the UK could be trapped in poverty, a report suggests.
The study, by campaigning group Leonard Cheshire Disability, says disabled people are more likely to live in hardship now than a decade ago.
The group says the poverty trap is largely due to higher living costs - up to 25% more than for the able-bodied.
The government insists it is developing a long-term strategy to help disabled people lead independent lives.
"Disability poverty is one of the most significant and most challenging problems facing the UK today," said Guy Parckar of Leonard Cheshire Disability.
The report, entitled Disability Poverty in the UK, finds disabled people are twice as likely to live in hardship than others.
Well, lets hope they sort out this sad state of affairs faster than the 60 or so years Israel has taken (so far), to sort out a similarly inexcusable, dosh related 'anomaly'.
Read the rest of this report right here.
Labels: Britain, Government Reform, Holocaust survivors, Israel, poverty
posted by Richard at Tuesday, January 08, 2008
4 Comments:
Let's also hope the British government develops a better scheme than their transatlantic counterpart. In the US, no-one can claim disability benefits until they've been disabled for five months. Someone who breaks their back and can't work is likely to be ousted from their home, have their goods repossessed, and be denied medical care if they can't afford to pay, before the government finally pays them what is their's as a right. If their claim is denied, as happens frequently even to really bad cases, it takes two or three years for their appeal to be heard. Many die before their claim is allowed. It's totally disgusting. As is the plight of Israeli Holocaust survivors who have been suffering hardship for years, as you rightly point out, ignored by the Israeli government.
So many of this generation Israelis are not fit to lick boots of Holocaust survivers.
I'm glad to see you inserted the word "so far" into the section on Holcaust 'oldies,' Richard.
Because, when read with care, the report actually makes no promises ~ not even all these years down the line.
The only thing Israel has promised to do, is, and I quote: "form an inquiry commission with executive powers to probe years of failure by the Jewish state to provide adequate financial help for needy survivors of the Nazi Holocaust."
Of course, the longer they humm and har, the more of these poor old buggers will cease to be survivors. Ergo, it's all the less to be paid out to those still remaining if and when they finally cough up.
It's almost unheard of for anyone to get DLA (Disability Living Allowence) here in the UK, at their first attempt to claim.
It usually takes at least two or three appeals before any [even 100% genuine] claims are ok'd .
Obviously, all these appeals take time to lodge and then even more time to be heard.
Finally, if and when any appeal is eventually successful and the benefit is granted, payment can't be backdated any further than the date the sucessful appeal was lodged. And that's even if it's taken a year or so to prove that the claimant's medical condition was fully deserving of the benefit at the time of the first claim.
Which, as I've said, could have been a couple of years earlier.
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