Israel releases Holocaust survivor figures ahead of memorial day

At his home in Haifa, Israel, Holocaust survivor Naftali Fürst shows the numbers that were tattooed on his arm when he was imprisoned at Auschwitz, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 26 January 2025
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Israel releases Holocaust survivor figures ahead of memorial day

  • One-third of Holocaust survivors listed by Israel arrived in the country between its establishment in 1948 and 1951, according to the report

JERUSALEM: Israel published information on Holocaust survivors in the country on Sunday, the eve of the International Holocaust Memorial Day which will mark 80 years since the liberation of Nazi death camp Auschwitz.
An Israeli government agency dedicated to supporting survivors of the mass murder of Jews during World War II issued its yearly report, estimating that more than 123,000 Holocaust survivors currently live in Israel.
They include 41,751 people who survived Nazi persecution and 44,334 who fled the advance of Nazi forces particularly in the former Soviet Union.
A third group of 37,630 survivors were victims of anti-Semitism during the war but were outside of Europe — mainly Jews living under the French Vichy regime in Morocco and Algeria, as well as Iraqi Jews.
The report also mentions 133 Israelis who fought during World War II in the ranks of the Allied forces.
Sixteen thousand spouses of Holocaust survivors who had passed away are also listed, as they receive government support.
Government support for Holocaust survivors totalled 3.9 billion shekels (about $1.1 billion) in 2024, according to the report.
Most of the survivors included in the report, 61 percent, are women.
About 37 percent were born in the former Soviet Union, 17 percent in Morocco and 11 percent in Iraq.
One-third of Holocaust survivors listed by Israel arrived in the country between its establishment in 1948 and 1951, according to the report.
Nine percent have immigrated over the past 25 years, and 54 individuals in 2024.


Macron, Iraqi Kurdish leader urge ‘de-escalation’ in Syria

Updated 18 January 2026
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Macron, Iraqi Kurdish leader urge ‘de-escalation’ in Syria

  • The Islamist-led authorities in Damascus are seeking to extend their control over all of Syria, after toppling former president Bashar Assad a little over a year ago

PARIS, France: France’s President Emmanuel Macron and the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, in telephone talks on Saturday urged a cessation of fighting in Syria, the French presidency said.
They “called on all parties for an immediate de-escalation and a permanent ceasefire,” it said, after fighting in recent days between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and government troops in the country’s north.
The SDF control swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast, much of which they captured during the civil war and the battle against the Daesh group.
The Islamist-led authorities in Damascus are seeking to extend their control over all of Syria, after toppling former president Bashar Assad a little over a year ago.
Both sides signed a deal in March last year to merge the semi-autonomous Syrian Kurdish administration and its forces into the new government, but implementation has largely stalled.
Macron and Barzani said they backed “the immediate resumption of talks on integrating the SDF into the Syrian state,” the French presidency added.