Arabs in Knesset Push Through Bill to Ensure Proper Payments For Holocaust Survivors

70 members of the Israeli national legislature passed a bill this Tuesday that protects Holocaust survivors‘ monthly stipends from taxation.

The German government pays Israeli survivors $578 a month, but since it has always been distributed as taxable income, the payments were whittled down to about $354.

The new bill, however, revised the stipend definitions so that the receivers will be given their full payments without deductions.

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Three lawmakers from the Joint Arab List – Ayman Odeh, Dov Khenin, Abdullah Abu Maaruf, and MK Tali Ploskov (Kulanu) —spearheaded the effort.

“I had the privilege to be part of the initiative for this important bill, which corrects an ongoing wrong against the Holocaust survivors,” Odeh said in a statement. “I am especially proud that we managed to assist in that the Holocaust survivors who are still with us can live decently.”

[UPDATED with corrected headline}

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