The clinic for the rights of Holocaust survivors and the Elderly

The Clinic managed to prevent the forced evacuation of tenants residing in a nursing home in the North of Israel. The institution tried to evacuate tenants who were funded by the Ministry of Health due to their financial situation. Following the Clinic’s intervention, the sides reached an agreement according to which the tenants cannot be evacuated for as long as they live. 

The Clinic has recently filed a petition to the Supreme Court asking the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Welfare and the Minister of Health to provide healthcare and social rights to elderly asylum seekers in Israel. The Clinic is demanding of the State to grant its non-deportable elderlies certain basic rights that will enable them to live the remainder of their lives in dignity.

As part of its efforts to change the paradigm for the compensation of Holocaust survivors in Israel so that it better reflects their needs as an aging population, the Clinic published an article in Law & Social Change Journal. The article calls for a shift from a damages-oriented paradigm to a social paradigm that seeks to allow the survivors to end their lives with dignity. The Clinic is working on translating the insights of the article into a bill that, if passed, will change the character of the benefits system for Holocaust survivors in Israel and lead us to stop hearing about hungry Holocaust survivors.

The Clinic has been working on improving living conditions in public housing facilities for the elderly in Israel, which are often poorly maintained and at times even hazardous. As part of this activity, the Clinic has managed to move some of its clients into safer, more humane apartments, and is continuing to work for improved oversight over these facilities.

As part of its mission to eradicate the exploitation of elderly consumers, the Clinic represented three seniors who were charged for services they had no intention of purchasing. The court ruled in favor of the motion and ordered the company to issue refunds totaling in ILS 700,000.

As part of its efforts to secure fair compensation and benefits for Holocaust Survivors, the Clinic has represented clients that have developed secondary illnesses as a result of Nazi persecution and were denied additional health benefits and compensation they were eligible for. In an appeal filed by the Clinic on behalf of a Holocaust survivor, the Court found that his secondary illnesses were causally linked to Nazi persecution, and that survivors only needed to show a “plausible" relationship. This has broad implications for other survivors with similar medical issues.

Following an appeal filed by the Clinic, the Magistrate's Court determined that the Holocaust Survivors Rights Authority misled Bulgarian immigrants in an official letter issued on its behalf. The judgment stated that the misleading letter led the Clinic’s client to a delay of almost a year in exercising her rights. The court ruled that the Authority is to grant the plaintiff retroactive entitlement from the date of the misleading letter.

As part of a lengthy legal process led by the Clinic on behalf of a Romanian Holocaust and forced labor camp survivor, whose application for compensations from the Holocaust Survivors Rights Authority remained unanswered for more than 10 years, the parties reached a settlement agreement. As part of the agreement, the plaintiff’s heirs received ILS 116,000, after their father passed-away before the proceedings ended.  

The Supreme Court accepted the Clinic's position, as a friend of the court, and rejected petitions against the law limiting attorneys' fees in handling claims of Holocaust survivors that require little legal work – a law that the Clinic co-drafted.