Is money that is to go to Holocaust Survivors going to Israel's war on The Palestinians & everyone else filling their pockets first

Hungarian government stops payments to needy Holocaust survivors; demands return of funds

Hungary is demanding that the Claims Conference, the New York-based Jewish organization which handles payments to Holocaust survivors around the world, return about US$ 8 million in payments made to Holocaust survivors. The government in Budapest said the Claims Conference had failed to properly account for the money. 

More than half a million Hungarian Jews perished during the Holocaust. Five years ago, the country agreed to provide US$ 21 million over a five-year period to help impoverished survivors of Hungarian descent, working with a Hungarian organization locally and the Claims Conference.

The money was supposed to be a down payment to help aging victims while Hungary worked with the organization on the longer, painstaking process of property and asset restitution tied to the Holocaust. The funding ranges from US$ 800 to US$ 2,000 per person annually to provide medicine, hearing aids and other necessities to the poorest of Hungarian survivors.

Two years ago, after the nationalist Fidesz government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban (pictured left) came to power in Hungary, Commissioner Andras Levente Gal began challenging how the money had been spent, asking for more details about the funds. The Hungarian government halted its payments to the organization, holding on to US$ 5.6 million. “It is impossible to identify the individuals eligible for compensation or the grounds for their eligibility” based on the documents it provided, the Hungarian Ministry of Public Administration and Justice said on its website this week, arguing the organization had shown that the funds were distributed “on a far-from-equal footing.” Gal is now seeking to reclaim roughly US$ 8 million from the group, along with interest and added charges.