The cabinet of Israel approved over NIS 7 million for expanding the holocaust survivor’s documentation project. The decision in this regard was taken at the last weekly meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A proposal in this regard was moved by the prime Minister of Israel and supported by the minister of social equality and diaspora, Amichai Chikli.
Minister Chikli and Deputy Minister Uri Maklev will lead this unique project. The project is aimed at collecting the visual testimony of holocaust survivors.
The prime minister and Minister Chikli also proposed wide parameters for project success and to take the initiative to for making the survivor’s testimony more accessible. ‘
The proposal also included making testimony translation available in many other languages so that a maximum number of the general public could get complete information on the holocaust tragedy.
There are also plans to use these testimonial visual collections for educational purposes.
Notably, in 2022, the previous Israeli government approved this plan to collect visual testimony from Holocaust survivors currently living in Israel and other parts of the world.
Once the project is completed, there are plans to use it to fight against holocaust denial. The previous government also took many decisions in this direction, and this decision of the present govt is also a continuation of the earlier decision.
To successfully complete the project, the financial cost of NIS 7.15 million will be shared among the social equality ministry, the Haredi sector, the economic development authority,the Prime Minister Office, the heritage ministry, the ministry of diaspora and struggle against antisemitism, the cultural and sports ministry and ministry of foreign affairs.
This will fulfil the financial requirements of the project for the year 2023-24.
The budget share from the Haredi sector economic development authority, headed by Deputy Minister Uri Maklev, will be utilised for the documentation of survivors from various communities in the Haredi sector, documentation of which are lacking till Today.
Commenting on the cabinet decision, the Prime Minister of Israel asserted, “Today we took a decision which will assist in preserving the memories of the Holocaust.
As per the prime minister, “We will pass memories of the Holocaust to the next generations to remind them what Jews people had faced in the past. “he also said that these memories would serve as a reminder for the next generation to withstand the atrocities by enemies at any time of their life.