Silverseren
See that’s the thing, Israelis by and large aren’t the Jews that survived the Holocaust, most of those folks stayed in Europe or immigrated to the US and Canada.
Ashkenazi Jews in Israel who trace back to an arrival from that period are mostly the folks that handed the Nazis a fat stack to transfer their monetary assets to the banking infrastructure already established by the Zionists in Israel.
Of the Holocaust Survivor families that ended up in Israel, a third live in abject poverty, because again, these were the folks that couldn’t just pay off the Nazis to let them go somewhere else, all of them face language discrimination because Israel banned the official use of historical Jewish languages like Ladino, Yiddish, and Mizrahi, and all of them risk getting slurred at by the non-holocaust-survivor families, specifically calling them Soap which is just one of the most blatantly heinous things I’ve discovered about how one community gets treated by another.
There’s also the Russian Jews who ignore comparisons to the Holocaust and identify more with it being a rightful act of irredentism akin to the war in Ukraine.
lemmesaythanks for the links. can you replace one link with its non-AMPd version? thanks.
pbs.org/…/one-third-of-israeli-holocaust-survivor…
you can read why AMP is baad for the web
There are plenty of holocaust survivors in Israel from death camps and concentration camps, many who reached in ships as “Maapilim”.
They are highly respected, evident by all the events around them every year on remembrance day for the holocaust, school trips to “Yad Vashem”. Sometimes holocaust survivors are also invited to schools and workplaces to tell their stories, or people go to their houses to listen to them. There are also a lot of civil organisations around helping holocaust survivors.
The ones in poverty are mostly ones who came later on in the 1990’s from former Soviet Union, and usually didn’t or couldn’t contact authorities or know about what theu deserve because of the language barrier - As many of them only speak Russian.
It’s incredibly unfortunate, and almost all Israeli Jews see supporting them and helping them as important.
From the PBS article you linked:
The Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, an umbrella group representing 50 organizations that assist Holocaust survivors
Many of the most destitute immigrated to Israel in the 1990s from the former Soviet Union after its dissolution. They arrived with little means, had difficulty learning a new language late in life and many struggled to establish social networks.
She said there’s broad public support for survivors but the government needs to provide more assistance.
Holocaust remembrance remains a cornerstone of Israeli identity. A large percentage of the country is made up of survivors and generations of their descendants. The country marks its own Holocaust Remembrance Day each spring.
I’ve never heard of any Israeli Jew calling them “soap”. That’s insane and would cause outrage by anyone who hears that.
They didn’t face any discriminiation, since they were part of the people who founded Israel. Holocaust survivors help build Israel and fought in its wars.
Mizrahi isn’t even a language and Ladino speakers are mostly not holocaust survivors.
The ones in poverty are mostly ones who came later on in the 1990’s from former Soviet Union, and usually didn’t or couldn’t contact authorities or know about what they deserve because of the language barrier - As many of them only speak Russian.
It’s incredibly unfortunate, and almost all Israeli Jews see supporting them and helping them as important.
Imagine those poor government says workers who want to help all the Holocaust survivors but just can’t figure out who they are because they don’t speak Russian! Must be awful for them!
When people come into the country, no one knows if they are holocaust survivors or not.
They need to approach the government about them being holocaust survivors.
And for that, they need to know in the first place that they deserve aid and can get it. Which is very hard when you don’t know the language in the country you’ve come to.
Some of the aid organizations in the article help them exactly with that.
But even if they do, they still remain in poverty and are mistreated. It’s a symptom of what Israel is… When you drop the rights of some people, you don’t stop, you keep dropping the rights of more people.
Here’s a good report on it: youtu.be/KMIIxCR2utQ?feature=shared
Israel's Forgotten Holocaust Survivors | Unreported World
Mistreated by whom? People in Israel highly respect holocaust survivors.
It’s true that for some of them it’s not enough, especially with the rising costs of living in Israel, that’s definitely an issue which is raised almost every election.
But this is not an issue of “dropping rights”.
This is part of, some corrupt / some just capitalist, policies under Bibi’s governments.
Cutting down budgets for some government offices, while increasing them for some other made up offices for political reasons, cutting down on social services for everyone and directing funds to ultra-orthodox organizations as a part of political agreements, for example.
This corruption is part of the reason there were mass protests in Israel since the current government was elected.
And why more than half of Israel opposes Bibi and his “bloc”.
I’m quite familiar with the subject, but I watched anyway.
What one of the survivors talked about is terrible, but those kids are a minority and if I knew where this was I could guess which group they’re from.
Rising living costs is part of the reason some of the survivors had to resort to these things, as the money wasn’t enough anymore.
Not the case of those in the video, who weren’t getting money at all and seems like it was for the reasons I’ve written about above.
I’m so familiar with this because I’m Israeli and my grandparents were holocaust survivors. Part of the reason I’ve volunteered in the past to help survivors like the ones in the video.
I’m so familiar with this because I’m Israeli and my grandparents were holocaust survivors. Part of the reason I’ve volunteered in the past to help survivors like the ones in the video.
That’s lovely! Good on you… still baffles me that you are refusing to see the issue here.
but those kids are a minority and if I knew where this was I could guess which group they’re from.
At the beginning it says they saw 13 holocaust survivor go through rubbish fruit and vegetables to be able to eat. You can say “rising living costs” all you want. If Israel respected holocaust survivors, rising living cost should never play a role, especially given all the funding they get for just that.
The issue seems to be widespread, not just a “couple few” here and there…
I don’t meant to be disrespectful but your answer sounds like that of a politician trying to wiggle out of reality. The reality is that holocaust survivors are mistreated, maybe in an Israel that doesn’t care about them or anyone anymore.
You’re ignoring about half of what I wrote in my replies.
Nowhere did I say there are just a “couple few”.
The previous government in 2022, which wasn’t headed by Bibi, managed in less than a year to considerably raise the amount of money these survivors get and make it easier for survivors to get it.
And there were more plans, but then the government fell.
The heart of the issue like many issues in Israel, stem from corrupt populist politicians.
Similar to what other western countries have been / are dealing with.
Nowhere did I say there are just a “couple few”.
but those kids are a minority
I think you tried to downplay their numbers…
Those are 2 seperate things you are talking about.
Like the quote, I was talking about the kids who spoke badly towards the holocaust survivor. And they are a minority.
In the previous reply you wrote as if I said there are just a “couple few” survivors who aren’t getting help / enough help from the government. Which I didn’t.
Clearly you have a certain view of Israel.
But trying to generalize and paint Israelis as terrible people won’t help those holocaust survivors or help solve any issue related to the country.
There are so many Israelis working very hard to change and improve things that barely get any mention anywhere, despite their success and while not having the backing of millionaires and billionaires.
The more support these people get, the easier it will be to enact change.
And even if you don’t apply it to Israel, at least think about it in relation to other countries.
Like how the protest organizations in Israel collaborated with the ones in Poland since they faced similar challenges and situations.
If I were in Israel today, I would easily be injured or killed in the street by police or the IDF or angry settlers.
Why do you think that would happen?
Because I’ve had people say the same thing because they weren’t white.
It’s easier for me to understand why you’re so invested in all of this knowing that you’re Palestinian.
You seem to be assuming Israelis as a whole support violent settlers like the ones in Yitzhar when we don’t.
I also asked because you wrote Israel and not just the West Bank. Considering I work with Palestinians that don’t experience any of that.
You seem to be assuming Israelis as a whole support violent settlers like the ones in Yitzhar when we don’t.
Nope. Never said that, never implied it.
All I’m saying is, there are enough Israelis who would readily snipe me in the head whether you like it or not. Israel is extremely unsafe for Palestinians specifically for their ethnicity.
Considering I work with Palestinians that don’t experience any of that.
I can’t get myself to believe that, sorry. Maybe they just aren’t telling you 🤷 Hundreds of thousands of reports of Palestinians killed in cold blood in Israel and you still prefer your own personal experience… Shame. If I were you, I would learn to look beyond that little bubble where nothing is “that wrong” and no one is “that bad”
I’m not trusting just my own personal experience, this is the reality in areas outside of the West Bank.
You’re just not interested in anything different from what you believe.
You’re ridiculing my answers and clearly you aren’t interested in any answer that is not according to what you believe happens in Israel.
And considering you don’t care that much about accuracy and about omitting parts of what people say or about what’s happening, or about context, it’s not suprising you view things the way you do and believe I’m downplaying things or lying.
Twisting my words and pretending I wrote things I didn’t isn’t doing you any favours.
Feels like I’m having a conversation with a Trump or Ben Gvir supporter.
Thank you.
Yes it’s very unfortunate.
Israel is a very important geopolitical target, so a lot of propganda actors are focusing on it and exploiting the situation for their own agenda. Like how Cambridge Analytica exploited divisive subjects to achieve their goals.
And a lot of people have an easier time to see things as either “good” or “evil”, so they fall for it.
It’s especially clear when you don’t see anyone talking about the heavy discrimination Palestinians have been facing in Lebanon for over 70 years.