<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Israeli Bank Which Profited From Holocaust Forced To Settle With&nbsp;Survivors]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><span class="article-details"><span class="article-detail">Thursday March 31, 2011 02:11</span><span class="article-detail"> by Saed Bannoura &#8211; IMEMC News</span></span></p>
<blockquote class="article-intro"><p><strong>One of Israel&#8217;s largest banks, Bank  Leumi, has agreed to an out-of-court settlement after being sued by the  descendents of victims of the Holocaust. The Bank kept money deposited  by over 3500 European Jews who were later killed in the Holocaust, and  profited from those funds rather than returning them to surviving family  members.</strong></p></blockquote>
<p class="photo"><a name="attachment36834"></a> <img class="summary-image" title="Click on image to see full-sized version" src="https://i2.wp.com/www.imemc.org/attachments/mar2011/bankleumi.gif" alt="Bank Leumi logo" width="175" height="53" /><br />
<em>Bank Leumi logo</em></p>
<p class="article">Swiss  banks which profited from the Holocaust were sued by survivors and  families several years ago, and forced to pay hundreds of millions of  dollars back, which had been gaining interest for the Bank since the  depositors were killed in the early 1940s.</p>
<p>But this is the first time that an Israeli bank has been sued for  profiting from the Holocaust. The lawsuit was filed two years ago, and  the parties began arbitration last year toward resolution through an  out-of-court settlement.</p>
<p>With the agreement, the Bank will pay survivors 130 million NIS (around  $30 million USD). This is less than half of the amount demanded in the  original lawsuit against Bank Leumi.</p>
<p>Bank officials told reporters this week, “This agreement constitutes the  final and complete end of all claims by the Company for Location and  Restitution of Holocaust Victims&#8217; Assets against the Bank Leumi group.  Signing the agreement does not constitute any kind of recognition on the  part of the bank of any the company&#8217;s claims or demands.”</p>
<p>Bank Leumi was formed out of the Anglo-Palestine Bank, which was created  in Palestine in the early 1930s. Many European Jews began transferring  their assets to the Bank, especially when the Nazi party in Germany and  other parts of Europe began seizing Jewish assets.</p>
<p>The family members of over 3500 people who were killed in the Holocaust  have fought for decades to get the bank to return their family members&#8217;  assets, but say they had no cooperation from the bank and were finally  forced to file a lawsuit in 2008.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.imemc.org/article/60967">Source</a></p>
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