On July 26th, local time, Russian Presidential Press Secretary peskov said that the Russian Ministry of Justice pushed to close the branch of Jewish Agency in Russia last week because it violated Russian laws and should not be "politicized".
The Jewish Affairs Bureau is an organization aimed at promoting overseas Jews to immigrate to Israel, and it has close ties with the Israeli government. At a time when the differences between Russia and Israel are widening due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the closure of the Jewish Affairs Bureau has caused concern about the direction of Russian-Israeli relations.
However, some Israeli officials pointed out that it is not good for Russia to damage Russia-Israel relations, and Israel should carefully handle Russia’s request to close the Jewish Affairs Bureau.
Claiming to violate privacy laws
According to Agence France-Presse and Israel’s Ha ‘aretz, a court in Moscow said on July 21 that the Russian Ministry of Justice asked the court to "dissolve" the Jewish Affairs Bureau with offices in several Russian cities for unknown legal reasons. According to Reuters and Ha ‘aretz, the court will hold a hearing on July 28th to decide the future of Jewish Affairs Bureau in Russia, and Russia is expected to submit more details to the court at that time.
According to the British "Guardian" reported on July 26, the Russian government accused the Jewish Affairs Bureau of violating the privacy law. Israel’s Jerusalem Post reported that the Russian government also sent warning letters to several Jewish organizations operating in Russia and funded by foreign countries last week. Since the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian government has closed dozens of foreign-funded institutions and charitable organizations.
Peskov said that this incident should not be "politicized" or "affect the whole Russian-Israeli relationship".
According to Agence France-Presse, in response to peskov’s statement, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Lapid said: "The relationship between Israel and Russia is based on a long history, regular communication and common interests." Israel also responded that the Jewish community is the core of Israel-Russia relations. If there are legal issues related to the activities of the Jewish Affairs Bureau in Russia, "Israel will, as always, be ready to participate in the dialogue."
Founded in 1929 and headquartered in Jerusalem, the Jewish Affairs Bureau is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world, which played a key role in helping Israel establish its state in 1948. In 1989, the Jewish Affairs Bureau began to operate in Russia. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the Soviet Union went to Israel to settle down. Of today’s 9.4 million Israeli population, more than 1 million have ties with the Soviet Union.
Russian-Israeli relations have not been smooth recently.
According to the Guardian, Israeli Prime Minister Lapid said on July 24th that Russia’s decision to close the Jewish Affairs Bureau would "seriously affect (bilateral) relations".
In response, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zacharova responded in an interview with Russian state television on the 26 th that Israel "does it think that their actions and statements in recent months have not affected our relationship?" She also criticized Israel for being "totally unconstructive and most importantly biased" in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, "which is totally incomprehensible and strange to us".
Agence France-Presse quoted analysts as saying that Russia’s attempt to close the Jewish Affairs Bureau may be a warning to the Lapid government’s stance on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Although Israel is one of the few western countries that has not imposed sanctions on Russia and has not sold weapons to Ukraine, the Lapid government has adopted tougher language on Russia and Ukraine than its predecessor.
In April this year, it was reported that Russian troops "shot" civilians in Bucha and other places in Ukraine. Although Russia denied it, Lapid, then Israeli foreign minister, still accused Russia of committing war crimes.
In June, Pinchas Goldschmidt, the chief rabbi of Moscow (rabbi refers to the spiritual leader of Jews who is proficient in Tanah and Talmud and is responsible for presiding over Jewish religious ceremonies), was forced into exile in Israel because he refused to publicly support Russia’s "special military action" against Ukraine.
According to the Israel Times, on July 26th, Israel announced that it would expand its humanitarian aid to Ukraine, which would include financial support for non-governmental aid organizations operating in Ukraine for the first time.
On the same day, Israel also confirmed that when Israeli fighter planes attacked suspected Iranian targets in Syria in May this year, Russian troops fired at them, but they did not hit the target. However, Israel also believes that the fire incident is "unique".
In addition, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov’s remarks in May that "Hitler is of Jewish descent" and "the most fanatical anti-Semitic elements are often Jews" also had an impact on Russian-Israeli relations, and Israel recalled its ambassador to Russia for this reason.
In addition, Russia’s request to close the Jewish Affairs Bureau may also have the consideration of alleviating the brain drain of high-skilled talents. According to Ha ‘aretz, after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out, a large number of Jews from both countries returned to Israel.
Russia has a large number of Jewish communities. According to the data provided by the Jewish Affairs Bureau, tens of thousands of Russians have left their country since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, most of them are highly educated and skilled personnel, and about 16,000 of them have come to Israel.
Israeli Immigration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata told local Israeli television that according to the Law of Reunification, 600,000 Russians are eligible to immigrate to Israel. Since the closure of the Jewish Affairs Bureau in Russia, the number of applicants has increased.
Expert: You should not overreact.
In a report on July 25th, Washington post said that the request to close the Jewish Affairs Bureau made Russian-Israeli relations "highly tense".
However, Reuters reported that, despite their tough attitude towards Israel on issues related to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, both peskov and ZaHallova now seem to want to minimize the possible diplomatic impact of the closure of the Jewish Affairs Bureau.
According to Ha ‘aretz’s report on July 26th, Danny Yatom, the former head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, also told the newspaper that Russia’s request to close the Jewish Affairs Bureau was "mainly rhetoric", and the damage to Russia-Israel relations was not good for Russia.
Yatom said that although Russian law requires organizations receiving foreign funding to register as "foreign agents", it has not been applied to the Jewish Affairs Bureau.
Yatom also pointed out that Putin deliberately created a "tense atmosphere" in Russia-Israel relations, which meant showing kindness to Iran. On July 20th, Putin visited Tehran and attended the trilateral summit with Iran and Turkey.
In view of the fact that Russia has not exerted other pressure on Israel except for its rhetoric, Yatom believes that Israel should not put pressure on Russia now.
According to another report in Reuters, Lapid instructed a group of Israeli legal experts to stand by, and once Russia agreed, they immediately flew to Moscow to coordinate and solve the dispute of the Jewish Affairs Bureau. Only as of the afternoon of July 26th, these people have not set out. According to this, Yatom believes: "There is still room for discussing diplomatic issues with the Russians." Israel should "stay in the diplomatic field."
On July 25th, several senior Israeli security experts and diplomats told Ha ‘aretz that Israel should act cautiously and take measured actions to solve the crisis. Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser, pointed out that Israel should not be "belligerent": "We must find a solution that will not lead to communication failure and disconnection between us and the Russians. If the situation worsens, Israel can decide to take effective measures, but we should take careful measures to avoid widening the gap between the two sides and worsening the situation. "