Obituaries

Obituaries from page 93

Survivors Want Ombudsman
In Holocaust Fund Fraud
JTA
After the discovery of a $42.5
million fraud, the American Gathering
of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their
Descendants asked the Conference of Jewish
Material Claims Against Germany to hire an
ombudsman to advocate on behalf of and
represent the interest of the survivors.
Current and ex-employees of the Claims
Conference were among 17 people charged
last week by the U.S. Attorney in New York
with fraud, in which claimants falsified
information to receive payments from the
Hardship Fund, established by the German
government to give a payment of about
$3,600 to those who fled the Nazis as they
moved east through Germany.
In all, 4,957 fraudulent payments total-
ing $18 million were obtained from the
Hardship Fund fraud. Another $24.5 mil-
lion went to 658 fraudulent pension claims.
The alleged fraud, dating back to the
mid-1990s, remained hidden because
Claims Conference staffers conspired to
hide and manage the false claims.

—

Two Israeli
Majors Die
In Crash

M

aj. Amichai Itkis, 28, of Sde
Warburg, Israel, was killed
along with his navigator, Maj.
Emanuel Levy, 30, while piloting an F-16I
jet in Israel's Negev Desert.
Itiks, an experienced pilot, was deputy
commander of his squadron before
recently taking a leave to complete his
academic studies. He was flying at the
head of a formation of four F-16s when
the plane crashed.
He and his longtime girlfriend were
planning to marry in March 2011.
Itkis was born in Mexico City, where
his parents were on an educational mis-
sion for the Israeli Ministry of Education.
Another of his parents' educational

Majs. Amichai Itkis and Emanuel Levy

missions gave Itkis a Midwestern con-
nection. The family lived in Dayton,
Ohio, where his father, Haim, headed the
Community Hebrew School in the mid-
1990s. His mother, Ariella, also taught in
the school; his younger sister Maytal was
born there.
In 1998, after the family had returned
to Israel, Itkis' older brother, Barak, also

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94

November 18 • 2010

JN

Obituaries

I

irakaufman.com

I

died tragically during his military ser-

vice.
The two seater F-16I fighter jet,

-

nicknamed Soufa, or storm, crashed
Wednesday night, Nov. 10, near the
Ramon Crater.
The bodies were found Thursday after-
noon, several hours after the crash, fol-
lowing an extensive search. 1:7