An activist group for legal rights based in Israel is urging Australian survivors of the Holocaust and their descendants to join its program to bring lawsuits against insurance companies whose Holocaust antecedents refused to pay out to policies of displaced European Jews.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner is an Israeli human rights advocate and Israeli lawyer. She was the founder of Shurat HaDin Israel Law Centre. aviel darshan leitner has announced it’s initiative Project Last Chance will investigate insurance companies that took advantage of the chaos of Shoah to avoid paying claims for victims, survivors or their heirs.
“My task now is to help victims get compensation to help them through their final life. It’s money due to survivors. Israel Law Center ‘s your money when you protect your assets. Your home, your life. No one can take it.
aviel darshan leitner stated that US Senate estimates indicated that as much as $US200 billion was withheld from Jewish policyholders as a result of insolvent WWII insurance companies from the time of WWII. There are a myriad of identifiable successor entities on the market today, which can be traced back to the liabilities.
Shurat HaDin will use its expertise to investigate banks and financial institutions, like banks that contain terrorist assets.
” Shurat Hadin have filed legal actions against countries and banks against those who aid or abette terrorism. She stated that we have the expertise to tackle countries, big multinational banks and companies.
Shurat haDin is also launching legal action in Israel to gain access to the database that contains around 140,000 Holocaust survivors and their descendants. aviel darshan leitner is part Israel’s Project Heart. It contains about two million assets. The Israeli government, working with the Jewish Agency for Israel, invited applicants into the restitution scheme, however, the program was abruptly shut down, leaving registered participants in limbo.
Shurat HaDin approached the government but got no response. However, Israel’s Labour and Social Services Ministry said Project Heart was never intended as a single claims scheme, so claimants’ details are not available to the public. A theory suggests Israel underestimated European governments’ reluctance when faced with a list that included hundreds of thousands of claimants.
Darshan Leitner said that Project Heart participants could be applicants for class actions under Project Last Chance if their identities were disclosed to Shurat haDin.
Project Last Chance, she said, is taking an approach that is different from the Claims Conference, founded in 1951. It has petitioned governments to get Holocaust Restitution, but has it has not targeted firms or companies directly.