27 Iyar, 5760
Jerusalem

Success For the Chairman of the Jewish Agency: No Cut in Claims Conference Allocation For Jewish Education and Projects in Israel

The allocations of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany in the field of Jewish education and for projects in the State of Israel will remain intact. This was decided during discussions Wednesday night in New York following a demand by Jewish Agency Chairman, Sallai Meridor.

During recent months, the Planning Committee of the Claims Conference has met in order to define, among other things, the principles of allocating funds for the coming years out of the heirless funds or from the return of communal properties. The final meeting of the Committee took place Wednesday night in New York.

The head of the Planning Committee recommended that the Claims Conference reduce its annual allocation for documentation, research, and education about the Holocaust, which would come out of the funds that in the past equaled 20% of the total amount allocated. It was also recommended that one-quarter of the new amount be directly allocated to projects dealing with documentation, research, and education about the Holocaust, while 75% would be allocated to a special fund that deals with these issues.

Wednesday night, in response to Meridor’s demand, a decision was taken to leave the allocations in these areas intact, while the new fund to be set up would total $20 million, which would come from reserves and not from the amount set aside for allocations.

Furthermore, the Committee recommended giving priority to projects in Israel without defining a precise exact budget framework. Here too, Meridor scored a victory, when his demand to preserve the principle whereby 60 percent of the money is allocated to projects in Israel and 40% to projects abroad is preserved.

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