Russia Moves to Expel the Jewish Agency for Israel
Vladimir Putin's effort to stop emigration of Jews threatens the existing diplomatic paradigm between Russia and Israel.
The substantial population of Jews in both Ukraine and Russia has put the State of Israel in a tricky diplomatic position following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February of this year. While Israel has erred on the side of caution against eroding relations with the Russian Federation by electing not to send any weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Zionist state has also repeatedly denounced Russia's military engagement, even going as far as to accuse it of war crimes.
The Russian Federation's main row with Israel in recent months is the same that it has been for nearly the last decade; namely, the Israeli Defense Forces military engagement in the Syrian Civil War against its ally in the government of Bashar Al-Assad. Though that point of contention is part of a years-long ebb and flow between the two otherwise hospitable nations, the onset of the war in Ukraine has made relations much more tenuous.
The fallout between the two seemingly reached its apotheosis months ago when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asserted that Adolf Hitler had Jewish blood -- a point of considerable historical debate which isn't unfounded. The context of Lavrov's remarks centered on Ukraine assimilation of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion into its armed forces as critics of Russia's self-avowed de-nazification mission questioned how a nation with a Jewish president could be in support of Nazism. However, the optics of Lavrov's statement were disastrous enough to prompt Russian President Vladimir to personally call then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to offer a formal apology. While tensions between the nations had eased following that diplomatic debacle, Russia's latest move may prove to be the low point in relations between the two countries.
The Justice Ministry of the Russian Federation has formally initiated legal proceedings in an effort to shut down the operations of the Jewish Agency for Israel in the country. A case set in Moscow's Basmanny Court District will have the ministry make its allegations of legal breaches committed by the Jewish Agency made public. Since its founding in 1929 as a branch of the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency for Israel focuses on efforts to facilitate Aliyah - the immigration of Jewish diaspora to Israel.
Currently, the Jewish Agency operates offices in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, Rostov, Pyatigorsk, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, and Khabarovsk. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg are the four most populous cities in the Russian Federation in that order. Since the onset of the war in Ukraine, around 16,500 Russian Jews have emigrated to Israel. For comparison, that figure only reached 7,500 in the whole of 2021. Even then, figures from 2021 were already 30% higher than in 2020 with Russian Jews forming the largest group of immigrants to Israel.
This increased trend in Jewish immigration from Russia has already had a profound effect on Russia's economy, with nearly a sixth of the employees at Yandex leaving the nation. “Yandex was like an island of freedom in Russia, and I don’t know how it can continue,” said Elena Bunina, who ended her five-year tenure as Yandex’s chief executive in April, when she emigrated to Israel. The continuation of that trend aided by the Jewish Agency poses a significant risk to Russia's technology industry, among others.
Although diplomatic relations between Russia and Israel have become strained, the same can be said for the latter of those nations with Ukraine. Reports circulated months ago that Bennett urged Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky to accept significant territorial concessions in pursuit of peace with Russia. While those reports were denied, that did little to ease the rift between Israel and Ukraine. However, the change of leadership following the dissolution of the Knesset last month drastically changes that landscape. Upon announcing the dissolve, Naftali Bennett announced he would resign from his seat at the head of Israel's government, making way for Yair Lapid, Israeli Foreign minister and leader of Yesh Atid, to succeed him.
Lapid assumed office as Prime Minister of Israel officially on July 1st. In April, it was him who publicly accused the Russian Federation of war crimes in Ukraine, stating "The images and testimony from Ukraine are horrific. Russian forces committed war crimes against a defenseless civilian population. I strongly condemn these war crimes,” in reference to the alleged massacre committed in the Kyiv suburb Bucha. While Bennett didn't echo the accusation made by Lapid at the time, the change in Israel's leadership serves as a point of demarcation which could see relations between the two nations turn sour. That development that could drastically shift Russia's strategy in Ukraine.
If anything forecasts the trajectory of relations between Lapid and Putin's governments, it may be Israel's reaction to Moscow's initiative to expel the Jewish Agency. Regarding that effort, Lapid said “The Jewish community in Russia is deeply connected with Israel. Its importance arises in every diplomatic discussion with the Russian leadership. We will continue to act through diplomatic channels so that the Jewish Agency’s important activity will not cease[.]" Those remarks followed reports that the Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a letter to the Jewish Agency ordering it to cease its operations on July 1st, the day Lapid became prime minister.
Since becoming president for a second time, Putin has made considerable efforts to benefit and protect the Jewish population of Russia. His government has taken a harsh stance against anti-semitism by making things like Holocaust denial a formal crime in Russia. Putin has gone as far as to repeatedly declared Russia as a second homeland for Jews. He also maintains a close relationship with Berel Lazar of Chabad Lubavitch, one of two Chief Rabbis of Russia alongside Adolf Shayevich. The Russian Federation also formally recognizes an official rabbi for its defense forces.
In spite of the move to expel the Jewish Agency, it's clear that the decision isn't aimed at any persecution of Jews in Russia. In fact, quite the contrary is true as the effort seems to be aimed at keeping the Jewish diaspora in Russia where it is. Nevertheless, the denial of Aliyah to Russian Jews seeking it certainly will have a detrimental effect on that demographic's support of Putin within Russia along with that of the global diaspora on the world stage.
More significantly, the expulsion of the Jewish Agency will have a deleterious impact on Russia's relations with Israel; a valuable diplomatic asset given its departure from the uniform position of most western nations aligned with the NATO axis. With the c
hange in leadership shifting toward the policies fledged by new Prime Minister Yair Lapid, a vocal critic of Putin's war in Ukraine, the timing of the decision to act against the Jewish Agency could drastically change the landscape of Israel's diplomatic role in the world theater which in turn could force Russia to alter its military campaign.
Though the impact of that change of political climate will take time to unfold, the preliminary hearing for the Russian Justice Ministry's case to liquidate the Jewish Agency will come much sooner as it is currently set for July 28th.