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Saturday 21 July 2012 - 08:33

Israeli protester dies a week after self-immolation

Story Code : 180784
Moshe Silman set himself on fire during a protest rally in Tel Aviv on July 14, 2012.
Moshe Silman set himself on fire during a protest rally in Tel Aviv on July 14, 2012.
According to Israeli media reports, Moshe Silman, who suffered second- and third-degree burns on 94 percent of his body, died on Friday, after fighting for his life for almost a week.

    Silman, 57, set himself on fire on Saturday during a demonstration held to mark the first anniversary of the social justice protests that swept Israel last year.

Israelis have held several demonstrations in Silman's support in the past days. They also attacked and torched the office of the National Insurance Institute in Tel Aviv, which is blamed for Silman's financial troubles and his attempted suicide.

Silman, who had been recognized as 100 percent disabled by the National Insurance Institute, was receiving only NIS2,300 (about USD570) in disability benefits and was recently informed that he was not eligible for government housing. He was facing eviction in less than two weeks from the apartment where he had been living in for the past year.

    ''I can’t afford medication or rent. I paid millions in taxes, I served in the army and in the reserves until I was 46. I won’t be homeless and that is why I am protesting against all the wrongs Israel imposes on people like me," Silman wrote in a letter left at the site of the incident, adding that Israel "robbed me of everything and left me with nothing."

In his letter, he also blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz for his economic hardships.
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